Hang My Head Break My Heart (Built From All I Have Torn Apart)
by Ciara2531
Summary: Felicity Smoak's life has been defined by heart ache and hard times. Then, a random good deed brings Thea Queen crashing into her life and nothing is ever same.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I hardly know where to start this note. I have a lot to say about this story and where it came from. Basically, I got to thinking that Oliver is often written as the "broken" one. He is in canon and it just makes sense to write him like that even in a lot of alternate universes because its the most true to his character.**

**But.**

**I got to thinking about what if we had a complete role reversal and Felicity was one with the broken pieces that need healing?**

**That question led to my first idea : Felicity as a recovering alcoholic with Oliver as her sponsor.**

**And then...the plot bunnies exploded and I ended up with a beast of a story and headcanon that worked out to almost 700 words and that was before I even got to how Oliver and Felicity were going to meet.**

**Now normally, when I start posting a fic, I've been working on it for a while and I have chapters saved up. That's not the case with this story because as many thoughts and feels as I already have about it and for it, I'm not certain how it will go over or if people will be interested in reading it.**

**So I'm posting this first part in order to gauge reactions and interest. Please, if you read it, leave a review and let me know what you think. if you love it or hate it or something in between, that's cool (so long as you're polite about it).**

**I'll have more notes at the end.**

* * *

If the streetlight hadn't caught the gold buckle, she would have missed it, Felicity mused, her fingers closing around the red leather purse through her threadbare gloves. It was well made and obviously expensive, something that was confirmed when she spotted the Yves St. Laurent label on it.

There was only one way a bag like this ended up in this part of town and that was if the person who'd stolen it had ditched it with plans of reclaiming it later. Glancing around to make sure she was still alone, Felicity opened the bag. She found keys, two lipsticks and a wallet. That was leather too but it was stamped Versace. Yanking off one glove and flexing her fingers, Felicity opened it. The driver's license inside read Thea Queen. The name sounded familiar, like she'd heard it before, but she couldn't place it. The face staring from the little plastic card didn't ring any bells either. Felicity opened the money fold and saw a thick wad of cash. Her eyes widened. Thea Queen was either ridiculously rich or plain stupid. Possibly both.

Further examination of the wallet's contents revealed another picture of Thea Queen, this time with a man who looked enough like her for Felicity to assume they were related; a cousin maybe or...a brother. Ignoring the tight feeling in her chest, she started to put the picture back but changed her mind. She slipped it into her pocket, put the wallet back into the purse and stuffed the purse into her worn burlap tote. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself at this time of night.

Walking out of the alley, eyes darting in all directions to make sure there were no potential threats around, Felicity turned in the direction of the police station. It was late but Detective Lance was probably still on duty. He seemed to live in the police station when he wasn't out on the streets. Felicity liked him because he never talked down to her just because she was homeless.

Sure enough, when she stepped off the third floor elevator and rounded the corner, he was sat at his desk pouring over some papers.

"I found this," Felicity said, startling him.

"Smoaky, hey," he said, shuffling to his feet. "Whad'ya find?"

She pushed the purse toward him.

"Figure someone must have ditched it and planned to circle back," she said.

Lance opened the bag and then the wallet.

"Thea Queen," he murmured. "Some shits have all the luck."

Felicity didn't comment and Lance put the bag and wallet on his desk.

"I'll give her a call in the morning, let her know we found it," Lance told her.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill. Felicity accepted it only because she and Lance had a deal. If she found stolen property or passed on information about criminal activity around Starling, he'd give her some cash to help her get by. Mostly, Felicity liked the idea of doing something, even if it was something little, to help clean up the streets of Starling. After all, she had to live on them so really it was in her own self-interest.

"Wanna cup of coffee for the road?" Lance asked her. "Just made a fresh pot."

Felicity offered him a smile and nodded. Minutes later, she was walking back out on to the street, a Styrofoam cup of coffee clutched in her hand. She walked west. There was a building not too far away where she liked to sleep a few nights of the week. There was one spot on the far wall where the heat from the building came through well enough to keep her kind of toasty. It was one of her favorite spots to carve too because it was pretty out of the way and she could get lost in what she was doing without worrying that someone was going to try to slit her throat.

She'd found some great wood today when she raided the dumpster behind an antique furniture store uptown. It was a risky score but worth it. She'd managed to grab several pieces of basswood and pine from furniture that had been broken or was simply being discarded. She'd even found a small piece of butternut that she was going to save for something special.

The city was loud, even at night, and Felicity liked that. It made it easier to drown out the demons that haunted her. Scanning her surroundings one last time, she settled into her spot and wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee. It was still warm enough that it heated her insides as she sipped it. She took her time but eventually she drained the cup and set it aside.

She reached for her Swiss Army Knife, the one Diggle had given her when his arthritis had gotten too bad, and pulled one of the pieces of pine from her tote bag. She turned it over and over in her hands, feeling out all the imperfections before she decided.

_Frog_.

The familiar feel of the wood and the knife in her hands was soothing and Felicity worked for several hours, first on the frog, and then a butterfly, carved from a piece of the basswood. The sun had just started to peek overhead when she set her carving tools aside, put the finished pieces in a wooden chest she kept in her backpack and allowed herself to doze.

She'd found that staying up at night and catching a few hours of sleep in the early morning was a better routine for a woman on her own. Still, she was an extremely light sleeper so when she heard the tentative click clack of high heels coming in her direction, she was immediately alert.

"Hello?" came a light, feminine voice. "Is anyone out there?"

Felicity frowned.

Was this woman looking for trouble or what?

"Smoaky?" the woman persisted.

Felicity blinked.

Why was this woman looking for her?

Warily, Felicity shifted her head to get a better look around the corner. Slight as it was though, her movement caught the other woman's attention and Felicity found herself the object of a blinding smile.

"You're Smoaky, right?" she asked.

Thea Queen, Felicity realized, taking in the perfect clothes, the perfect make up, the wide blue eyes and short, brown, curls.

"How'd you find me?" Felicity asked gruffly.

"Detective Lance said you might be around here," Thea explained. "He says you like to hang out here some nights."

Felicity gave a non-comitial shrug.

"Why'd you come looking?" she asked.

"I'm Thea Queen. He said you were the one who found my purse," Thea said, shifting from foot to foot as if she felt uncomfortable standing in her ridiculously high heels while Felicity sat cross-legged on the ground. "He said you turned it in."

She reached into her back pocket and extracted an envelope.

"I wanted to say thank you," Thea continued. "And give you this."

"What is it?" Felicity asked suspiciously.

"It's uh…just some extra cash," Thea said awkwardly. "A token of appreciation, type of thing."

"I don't want your money," Felicity said.

Thea blinked several times.

"I…I'm not trying to offend you or anything," Thea said. "I just really appreciate what you did. The bag isn't even mine, I borrowed it from my mother and I would have been _so_ grounded so you know, you did me a favor and I just…want to do one back. It's not a big deal."

Felicity shook her head.

Only someone with money would hand it out to random strangers and say it wasn't a big deal. She didn't know how much money was in the envelope but she'd hazard a guess and say it was a fair chunk of change. Probably the kind of change Thea Queen had spent on those boots she was wearing.

"I appreciate the gesture," Felicity said. "But I don't want your money. You want to do me a favor, take that cash and drop it off at the church on East 7th. The roof is leaking again. They could probably use it to pay for repairs."

Thea let the hand that had been holding the envelope in Felicity's direction fall to her side.

"Okay, fine," Thea said. "You don't want money. There has to be something you'll let me do for _you_ to say thanks."

Felicity gave Thea another once over. She heard sincerity in the young woman's voice and in her experience that was a rare thing.

"You know, coming here with an envelope full of money was a pretty dumb thing to do," Felicity said. "How'd you know I'm not some pyscho drug addict?"

"Detective Lance probably wouldn't have told me where to find you if you were," Thea pointed out.

Felicity acknowledged that with a tilt of her head to the side.

"Coffee," she finally said.

"Coffee?" Thea repeated.

"I'll take one cup of coffee and consider us even," Felicity confirmed.

"I can totally do that," Thea said. "Wait here?"

Felicity just gave her a look and Thea flushed a little bit but her smile got brighter if that was possible. She rushed down the street and was back several minutes later carrying a tall white cardboard cup, which she handed over.

Felicity eyed it warily and sniffed.

"It's a venti vanilla latte," Thea said helpfully.

"Fancy coffee," Felicity said, slightly disdainfully.

Thea made a face.

"I kind of got carried away," she admitted. "I took off without even asking you what kind of coffee you liked and the next thing I know I'm staring at the barista with the judgy eyes and thinking that well, vanilla's kind of universal so there's at least a fifty fifty chance that she'll like it."

"You talk a lot," Felicity observed.

There was a time in her life when she talked a lot too but that had changed. A lot of things had changed.

"I get that a lot," Thea said. "But I can fix this."

She reached out to gently take the vanilla latte from Felicity's grasp and she rushed back down the street, faster than anyone should be able to move in those sorts of shoes, Felicity thought. She came back not long after, with a white Styrofoam cup – bigger than the one from the police station – and a paper bag.

"Plain black coffee," she announced brightly. "And I brought creamer and sugar separate in case you know…I didn't want to be force feeding you calcium and glucose a second time if you're not into that kind of thing."

Felicity's lips twitched and she found herself resisting the urge to laugh for the first time in what felt like years.

"Thanks," Felicity said.

"Yeah, no problem," Thea said.

She cocked her head to one side.

"So, would you hate me if I maybe stopped by and brought you coffee here tomorrow?" Thea asked carefully.

Felicity gave it considerable thought. There was a good chance that by this time tomorrow, Thea Queen would have forgotten all about her and moved on to the next exciting or new thing in her life. But even knowing that, Felicity decided to give her a chance. There was something about the light in Thea's smile and her eyes that reminded Felicity that some people still found things to be happy about. She may not be one of them but it was nice to know they existed.

Kind of.

"Only if you bring the fancy vanilla stuff," Felicity said.

Thea laughed.

"No vanilla," she said. "I promise."

Felicity gave a small nod and Thea smiled again. She seemed to do that a lot.

"Stay safe Smoaky," Thea said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And to Felicity's surprise, she did. At almost the exact same time as the day before, she heard the click clack of heels and Thea rounded the corner, this time carrying two cups of coffee and a medium sized box.

"Morning," Thea said. "Hold this."

She handed over the box before Felicity could protest and proceeded to sit herself down on the dirty ground, apparently not caring about the potential damage to her designer wardrobe.

"I think you might be crazy," Felicity said.

"You wouldn't be the first person to say so," Thea said. "Personally, I think its part of my charm."

She handed Felicity her coffee and then opened the box to reveal an assortment of donuts.

Felicity narrowed her eyes.

"Not part of our deal," she said.

"Yeah well, I have a ferocious sweet tooth," Thea said. "And if you don't stop me, I'm going to eat every single one of these and my thighs will never forgive me. So if nothing else, out of pity for every pair of skinny jeans I own, you should eat some."

She clapped her hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry, that was crass," Thea said, wincing. "The part about the skinny jeans. I mean, god, people have way worse problems."

"People," Felicity agreed. "But not you."

"I know you wouldn't think so based on that," Thea said, biting into a glazed donut. "But I do know I'm one of the lucky ones. And Raisa always says that we should never miss an opportunity to help others and not just because we can or it's the right thing but because you enjoy life more when you help other people find joy in theirs."

"Raisa?" Felicity asked.

"Technically she's our housekeeper," Thea said. "But in reality, she's like a mother to me and my brother Ollie. She practically raised both of us while my parents were out doing to the society thing."

"Ollie," Felicity repeated, testing the name on her tongue and not liking the sound of it.

She recalled the image of the man in the picture she'd taken from Thea's wallet. He didn't look like an Ollie but maybe he wasn't the brother in question.

"Is it short for something?" Felicity asked.

"Oliver," Thea supplied.

Ah, Felicity thought, that was much better. The man in the picture looked like he could be an Oliver.

"Are you close?" Felicity asked.

She had no idea why she was engaging this…intruder in her world. She'd learned the hard way more than once that getting attached to people only led to heartache and hard times. It was why she never went into the same shelter more than twice a month and why, after Diggle, she'd kept to herself.

His death had devastated her even though he'd been sick for a while and he'd stubbornly refused to go to a hospital. Felicity had begged and pleaded with him but he'd told her that everyone's time came around and he'd go when it was his.

They'd stayed in a shelter for his last few days because the cold outside too much for him to take. He'd passed in his sleep and Felicity had been inconsolable when she'd woken up and realized he was gone.

The day he died was the first and only time since she graduated from MIT that Felicity had gone anywhere near a computer. It had all come back easily, naturally, and it had taken her all of ten minutes to hack into the largest company in Starling and redirect a few thousand dollars to pay for a burial plot in one of Starling's best-kept cemeteries and proper funeral services. She made sure his coffin was covered in the American flag to honor his years of service overseas and she'd arranged for fresh flowers to be laid on his grave every Sunday.

Thinking about John reminded Felicity of why the Queen name sounded familiar.

"Queen Consolidated…" Felicity said. "That your family?"

"My dad," Thea confirmed. "Or technically my grandfather founded the company but my dad runs it now and Ollie will in a few years. Unless he grows a pair and let's people know he'd rather stick pins in his eyes."

She shook her head.

"And to answer your question from before," Thea said. "Yeah, my brother and I are close. Which isn't what you might expect given that he's ten years older than me."

She polished off her second donut and turned inquisitive eyes onto Felicity.

"Can I ask _you_ a question?" she asked.

"That was a question," Felicity pointed out.

Thea rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean," she said.

"I guess you can," Felicity said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Okay, and fair warning," Thea said. "I am absolutely not trying to be rude or offensive."

"Uh huh," Felicity said.

"What do you _do_ all day?" Thea asked.

Felicity made a sound that was part croak and part extremely rusty laugh. Of all the questions, that wasn't one she'd been expecting.

"I stay up most of the night. It's safer," Felicity said. "So usually I catch a couple of hours sleep in the morning and after that it just depends. Sometimes I go to the park. I spend a lot of time looking for good carving wood."

"You carve wood?" Thea asked. "Can I see something you carved?"

"You said one question," Felicity pointed out. "That was three."

Thea grinned.

"Answer them anyway?" she said.

"Maybe some other time," Felicity said.

Thea sighed.

"I should probably get going anyway," she said regretfully. "If I'm late to my internship I'll never hear the end of it from either of my parents."

She shook her head.

"Thea, you need to apply yourself," she said, mimicking what Felicity assumed was her mother.

Then her voice changed, presumably in an imitation of her father.

"Thea, think of your future," she mock growled.

Her words brought flashes of Felicity's own past to the surface and Felicity found herself clenching her fists to fight them back.

"I swear," Thea continued. "It's like they want me and Ollie to be clones of them. Ollie is going along with it but damn it, I do _not_ want to be my mother."

"I don't think anyone wants to turn into their mother," Felicity said quietly.

Thea gave her a thoughtful look but she didn't press and Felicity was grateful.

"Same place, same time, tomorrow, okay?" Thea said instead.

It wasn't really a question so Felicity didn't answer it but when Thea's heels click clacked the next morning, Felicity was there, waiting.

* * *

"Smoaky, your face!" Thea exclaimed. "What happened? Are you okay? Did someone _hit_ you?"

"It's not a big deal," Felicity mumbled, reaching for the coffee in the cup holder Thea was carrying.

After nearly two weeks of this routine, Felicity was comfortable simply taking the coffee she knew was meant for her rather than waiting for Thea to hand it over.

"Just some creep who thought he could take advantage," Felicity said.

She grimaced.

"He thought wrong," she said.

Diggle had taught her well and Felicity had sent her would be attacker scurrying away with a broken wrist. But not before he'd managed to backhand her across the face, hence the angry bruise and now, Thea's horrified and worried expression.

"Partly my fault for staying here so much lately," Felicity said, taking a sip of coffee. "Need to change it up more."

Thea's mouth opened but it took her a few moments to get any words out.

"Is it my fault?" she finally asked. "That you've been staying here more? Cause, I can totally meet you somewhere else. I didn't even…"

"It's one of my favorite spots," Felicity interrupted. "That has nothing to do with you and the coffee crack."

"Coffee crack?" Thea repeated, her face relaxing into its usual smiling expression. "Is that because of how much you like coffee or a reference to past experience with actual crack?"

"Maybe both," Felicity said.

Thea pressed her lips together.

"I never quite know when to take you seriously," Thea said.

Felicity simply shrugged.

"You should probably let a doctor take a look at that," Thea observed after another look at Felicity's cheek.

"It's just a bruise," Felicity said. "It'll fade."

To Felicity's relief, Thea changed the subject. They'd established a balance of sorts over these 12 days. They shared coffee and sometimes donuts and Thea talked _a lot_ and sometimes Felicity talked. Mostly in short, tense sentences but still, she shared a few things about herself. Never as much as Thea actually wanted to know but the younger woman was accepting of the boundaries that Felicity kept and she didn't push.

"So, you said you needed to change it up more," Thea said. "Is that like…some sort of street rule? Part of a secret code?"

Felicity tugged her tattered woolen hat down over her ears.

"If you consider practical ways to keep yourself alive, rules," Felicity said. "Then yeah, I guess so."

Thea bit her lip.

"I know that there's like 99.9 percent chance you won't accept," she said. "But I still want to put it out there. If you ever want a roof over your head for the night or you know, _nights_, you could come and stay with me."

Felicity snorted.

"Great idea," she said. "Bring the homeless girl in off the street to the McMansion you live in. I'm sure your parents would be thrilled."

Thea sighed.

"We all know that Raisa's the boss of our house and she would be totally fine with it," she said. "And if you want to be super fussy about it, it's a McManor and not a McMansion."

Felicity shook her head.

"You are so strange," she said.

"Then I guess that makes you a weirdo," Thea said. "For liking my strangeness."

Felicity laughed softly earning her a blinding grin from Thea.

"You have a great laugh, Smoaky," Thea said. "I wish I heard it more often."

She used to laugh a lot, Felicity thought. Maybe this was why she hadn't put an end to this…whatever this connection was she felt to Thea Queen. Maybe it was because in a lot of ways, Thea reminded her of who she had been when she was younger.

Excited and enthusiastic about life, the world at her fingertips, completely clueless about how tragedy could take over your life and drown you in darkness and before you even knew it was happening you were spiraling out of control, alienating the people who loved you and living in your car, determined to escape the crushing weight of expectations and grief.

"Is that a hickey?" Felicity asked, nodding to a gap in Thea's scarf.

Thea blushed and adjusted the fabric.

"Maybe," she allowed.

"Good for you," Felicity said.

"Yeah, he is," Thea agreed. "It's unconventional what with him being the guy who stole my purse and all but every relationship has to start somewhere, right?"

Felicity choked on her coffee and stared at Thea.

"He's not a bad guy and he challenges me," Thea continued. "Which is new. I don't get that a lot, you know?"

"Not really," Felicity said honestly.

"The way I see it, what makes two people a good fit for each other isn't necessarily what they have in common," Thea said. "It's how they help each other grow and experience life in a new way. Roy and I come from two completely different worlds but that's what makes the time we spend together so much fun. I'm probably not making as much sense as I want to be but…"

"No, I get it," Felicity said. "I'm just not sure it works out in most cases."

"Maybe it doesn't," Thea agreed. "But it's better than the alternative. Take my brother and his fiancée for example."

Felicity's eyebrows hiked upwards in surprise. This was the first time Thea had mentioned a fiancée in relation to her brother.

"Laurel is…nice," Thea said. "She genuinely is. She's perfectly put together all the time. She has a law degree from Stanford. She gave up her cushy corporate job to run an art gallery and nobody batted an eye because running an art gallery is a perfectly acceptable hobby for a woman whose main job six months from now will be being married to Oliver Queen."

"You don't approve," Felicity said.

It wasn't a question.

"I approve," Thea disagreed. "Laurel is very approvable. But she doesn't make Ollie happy, not really."

"How do you know that for sure?" Felicity countered.

"There's a lot of little things," Thea said, waving her hand. "I think what gets me most is when he talks about her or when other people talk about her, his smile…it isn't _real_. It's his Oliver Queen smile."

"Oliver Queen smile?" Felicity repeated, clearly not understanding.

"Hey, rich people have a code too," Thea said lightly. "Cause you know, people are always watching us and judging us even they though they don't know anything about who we are as _people_. And you learn to fake it, to be what people expect instead of who you are. Oliver Queen is an image and that image is a match made in heaven for Laurel. But Oliver? The man? Yeah, I'm convinced he wants something else entirely."

"Are you sure you're not projecting what _you _want onto him?" Felicity said.

Thea sighed.

"No," she admitted. "I'm not sure. I just…I really love him, you know? I want the world for him."

"Maybe he has the world he wants," Felicity said. "Even if it's not the one you want him to have."

"I hope so," Thea said.

She glanced at her watch.

"Duty calls," she said. "Same time, new place, tomorrow?"

"Corner of 9th and Griffen," Felicity supplied. "There's a bench."

"It's a date," Thea said. "Will you hate me if I bring you flowers?"

"Yes," Felicity said promptly.

Thea's giggles echoed well after she'd turned the corner and Felicity found herself shaking her head in amusement as she gathered her things.

It was time for her to hit the next shelter in her rotation and take a shower, wash her clothes and maybe grab a hot meal if she was hungry. She still had some of yesterday's donuts tucked into a side pocket in her backpack so she could always snack later if that was more appealing.

As she walked through the city she was only marginally aware of the looks people shot her or even the ones who went out of their way to walk around her. Her first couple of weeks on the streets, she'd been excruciatingly aware of those looks, almost to the point of paranoia. With time, and Diggle's comforting presence, she'd learned to tune them out so that now, they hardly registered.

It took her forty minutes to walk to the shelter on Peters but she wasn't in any hurry. She'd just walked past the main offices when someone called out to her.

She turned to see the shelter coordinator, Barry, walking towards her, his long legs eating up the distance.

"Smoaky, hey," he said. "I figured you were due to pop in any day now."

He pulled up short when he spied the bruise on her face but years of working in this neighborhood and this shelter had taught him to be careful how he broached these things.

"You good?" he asked, nodding towards her cheek

Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, no harm, no foul," she said.

"I'll take your word for it," Barry said. "Uh, here."

He handed her a small bottle, which on closer inspection turned out to be lavender and lemongrass scented shampoo.

"Someone brought it in with a bunch of other things yesterday," Barry explained. "I thought you might like it."

Felicity blinked, surprised by the gesture. It was sweet.

"That's really nice of you," Felicity said. "Thanks."

Barry beamed.

"You're welcome," he said. "By the way, we're having a meeting tonight. You going to be able to make it?"

Felicity hesitated.

She hadn't had the nightmares in a while although she had been thinking about Adam more than usual. She figured all the talk about Thea and her brother probably had something to do with that. Maybe going to meeting as a sort of pre-emptive strike wasn't a bad idea.

"Yeah, I can come," she told Barry. "What time?"

"Six," Barry said.

Felicity nodded and then made her way to the locker rooms. She went through her usual routine of stowing her things, taking a shower, shampooing her hair and once she was dressed again in a clean, if ratty, pair of old jeans and an oversized sweater, she headed for the washing machines to put in the clothes she'd been wearing and a few other items. Living on the streets didn't mean she abandoned all sense of personal hygiene or cleanliness.

Settling in to wait for the machine to complete its cycle, Felicity extracted her carving tools and the half finished ladybug she'd started the night before. She was almost done with it when she got the feeling that she was being watched. Since she sensed curiosity rather than danger she let it go and a few minutes later the "culprit" approached her. Felicity found herself staring at chubby cheeked toddler with black hair and caramel colored eyes; eyes that were intently fixed on the wooden animal in Felicity's hand.

"It's a lady bug," Felicity said. "Do you like it?"

The little girl nodded and Felicity gave her a small smile. She made one more cut to the shell and then handed the carving to the little girl.

"Keep it," she said.

The child's face lit up in delight and she threw her tiny arms around Felicity's legs before running back towards her mother to show off her new toy. The mother in question looked tired and worn but she shot Felicity a grateful smile.

It was a random moment in life filled with random moments but Felicity found herself struggling with it. Until she'd met John and he shared stories of his nephew A.J. with her, Felicity had never given much thought to having children but over the years, the thought had crossed her mind more than once. More than that, there was a part of her that actually ached for it. That wanted to see if she could do better or different than her own parents had, that wanted to reclaim some of that innocence she'd lost by replacing it with the innocence of her own baby.

But she couldn't imagine allowing herself to get close to a man in the way that was required to produce children and it had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with trust. If she was honest, she wasn't sure she trusted herself to even be a mother. The fear of loss was so much a part of her life now, she couldn't imagine taking a risk like that.

By the time she'd finished her laundry, her mind was spinning and her attempts at taking a nap were completely unsuccessful. A little bit frustrated, she made her way over the library corner and settled in with a dog-eared copy of Pride and Prejudice. She was a third of the way through it when a glance at the clock on the wall showed that it was time for the meeting.

Pulling together all her stuff she made her way to the basement. There were already a few people in the room and not all of them were residents of the shelter or its environs. Felicity sat toward the back in a corner, away from most of the rest of the group.

The first man to speak talked about how his drinking had nearly cost him his wife and daughter and the long road he was still on to earn their forgiveness. The next speaker was a woman who had turned to drugs after her husband had died suddenly. She was fresh out of rehab and 93 days sober.

As Felicity listened to different people sharing the experiences that had led to the addictions, she wrestled with her own memories. Her brother, Adam, had been diagnosed with cancer when he was seventeen and Felicity was only eight. He'd fought it off a first time, going into remission at 19 but by 23 it was back and vicious. Aggressive chemo and experimental drug therapy had bought him a few years; time enough to see Felicity go off to MIT at 16 and enter her senior year twenty four months later.

To say that Felicity had taken his death hard was an understatement. The cancer had weakened Adam's body but not his mind or his spirit. He'd been the first one to encourage Felicity as she fiddled with machines and computers, taking things apart and putting them back together.

He was the one she pitched her software concepts to and she was the one who made him laugh the most even thought it was sometimes physically painful to do so. He'd often said that Felicity was the glue; that without her light and laughter, their family wouldn't have survived the ordeal of his diagnosis and subsequent treatments.

And maybe there was truth in that but the fact was that when Adam died, Felicity was overcome with bitterness. She was mad at the world, mad at the doctors who hadn't been able to come up with a better treatment for him and even more so mad that for all the technology out there and available, there wasn't a machine or program or a code that could keep Adam alive.

Felicity had finished her last year at MIT on the basis of her genius IQ and the two solid years of work she'd put in before tragedy stuck her family. She'd spent her last seven months in school skipping classes, never studying and more often than not drinking and partying in Boston. Her campus friends had been traded for bar bunnies and bouncers and she'd done her first line of cocaine on what would have been Adam's 26th birthday.

Her parents were still caught up in their own grief but they didn't ignore Felicity's downward spiral. If anything they reacted violently, terrified of losing another child. They'd driven her straight from her graduation ceremony to a rehab facility.

It was mostly the guilt they kept heaping on her about what Adam would have wanted for her that got her to go along with it. She knew they were right about that much. Adam wouldn't have wanted a junkie or a drunk for a sister. So she stayed sober although the cravings for something mind altering didn't entirely disappear.

The family moved from Central City to Starling because her parents wanted a fresh start and thought she should have one too. Felicity hadn't been thrilled but she hadn't protested either. It wasn't until almost a year after Adam had passed, when her parents started dropping hints about her plans for the future that things really fell apart.

They started asking about job applications and leaving different company catalogues around the house. She had to start making decisions, they said, about what she was going to do with her life. Felicity had reacted like a wounded animal and the fights had been epic.

How her parents could expect her to move on when Adam was cold in the ground was beyond her. How they thought that she would ever want to be involved in developing technology to save other people when no one had saved her brother was equally incomprehensible.

"_You owe it to Adam, Felicity," her mother had said tearfully. "He was your biggest fan. You know he would have wanted you to live up to your potential."_

"_Adam is dead!" Felicity had screamed. "He died. Dead people don't have opinions."_

That was the night Felicity realized she was as mad at Adam for dying as she was at the rest of the world for letting it happen. It was also the night she realized that sex was as good a mind-altering substance as any other and when a few weeks later, her mother walked in on her giving the neighbor's son a blowjob, it was the final straw.

Her parents cut her off and threw her out and Felicity was actually relieved to be free of all the pressure. She lived in her car for a while, until she couldn't afford gas or parking and it got towed with the majority of her stuff inside it. She didn't have the money to reclaim it from the impound lot and that lead to her first night on the streets.

It was the night she met John Diggle and it was the first good thing that had happened in years. Felicity wouldn't trade that - trade her relationship with him - for anything in the world. Not even more time with Adam. Some days she felt guilty about that but mostly she figured that he would understand that Diggle was just as much a brother to her as he had ever been.

The end of the meeting brought Felicity back to the present. She took her time gathering her things and then she made her way to where the coffee was. Barry sided up to her with a small smile.

"You know," he said. "If you're not comfortable talking in a group setting, we have other options."

"Yeah," Felicity said. "I know."

"Okay, well, whenever you decide you're ready," Barry said. "We're here."

Felicity snapped the lid on her to go cup of coffee and with a nod in Barry's direction, headed back out on to the street. She knew he was trying to be helpful, letting her know there was a place for her there, someplace she could belong if she wanted.

What he didn't understand and what Felicity wasn't about to explain was that she didn't want to belong anywhere. If you didn't have a place – a home – and you didn't have a family, then one could take it from you.

Not god.

Not fate.

No one.

* * *

**A/N: If you made it all the way through that the first thing I want to say is: Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it.**

**Second thing: DON'T HATE ME FOR DIGGLE. I already hate myself enough but the plot bunnies were adamant and I am but their computer literate servant.**

**Also, you may have found Thea a bit OOC even for an A/U. And that's sort of a deliberate. It'll be a plot point if I decide to continue with this story but also in terms of characterization in this 'verse I think it's necessary to balance out the fact that this version of Felicity is not a rambler. I'm pretty sure it's a risk to write Felicity like that since her rambling is so much a part of her character but for this story, it's sorta necessary.**

**Second point, I actually wrote an entire (quite lengthy) first chapter of an Olicity story without Oliver literally appearing. That was a mini challenge for me and also to see how people would respond to such a Felicity centric opening.**

**Fair warning if I do continue this, Oliver's characterization will be a bit different. I really want that role reversal to run deep. I want to see a fully mature Oliver who's actually ready for a serious relationship and have Felicity be the one who needs to grow and heal to catch up to that. He'll have his issues too (we got a taste of that in this chapter) but the main focus is on Felicity.**

**That said, there is Laurel to contend with and I think I've set my self a gargantuan task if this moves ahead. Getting from here to an Olicity HEA is not going to be a small feat.**

**Enough from me. I do hope you enjoyed it and looking forward to getting feedback.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow. Just wow. I can not begin to tell you what the amazing response to this story means to me. I am so flattered and more importantly, touched. This story has a HUGE place in my heart; I think it might be one of the biggest challenges I've ever set myself as a writer and the fact that so many of you are willing to hop on board and take this ride with me means everything. THANK YOU.**

**In this chapter, we meet Oliver and I didn't really want to get in his head so much as I wanted to show what his life is like and that's where one of my major challenges with this story comes in.**

**Laurel.**

**I am not a fan of this character in canon. I'm just...I'm not. However, in this universe, in order to have the Oliver that I want (the Oliver I want Felicity to have) I need for his relationship with Laurel to be a good one and that means that she can't be a horrible person. Especially because she is going to be around for a bit.**

**This is the part where I should also warn you that this story is going to require patience on the Olicity front. I have a plan or at least the clear outlines of one and I can tell you their journey isn't going to be linear but I think it's going to reflect who each of them is in this story and what they'll bring to each other's lives.**

**And in the meantime, I am completely in love with Thea and her and Felicity's friendship. I hope you all will be too.**

**Reviews are always love and they carry a gazillion times the feels with this particular story.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Here," Felicity said.

She held her palm open to reveal a small wooden dolphin.

Thea immediately set her coffee aside and picked up the tiny object in both hands.

"Smoaky, it's beautiful!" Thea breathed. "And dolphins are my favorite animal."

"I know," Felicity said.

"How'd you know?" Thea asked.

"The earrings," Felicity said. "You wear them all the time."

She nodded towards Thea's ears where even now the small dolphin shaped studs were present.

"Does that mean you made this for me?" Thea asked.

Felicity shrugged uncomfortably.

"I mean, if you want it," she said.

"Of course I want it!" Thea said. "It's the best gift I've ever gotten."

Felicity shot her a disbelieving look.

"No one's ever made anything for me before," Thea insisted. "Unless you count a crayon valentine I got from Joel Carter in the first grade."

Felicity snorted at that.

"Seriously, Smoaky," Thea said. "I love it. Thank you."

"Your welcome," Felicity said.

Thea hugged her and Felicity froze at the unexpected contact and then she jerked away abruptly.

"Sorry," Thea said. "I didn't mean to freak you out. It's just…I'm kind of a hugger. It's actually kind of a miracle that I haven't tackle hugged you before. It's been what, a month now?"

"About that," Felicity agreed. "And if you tackle hugged me I'd probably break some of your bones."

Thea arched an eyebrow.

"That didn't really sound like you were kidding," she said.

"I wasn't," Felicity said. "Sudden movements are…not a good idea around me that way."

Thea processed that.

"So all your bad ass self defense moves," she said. "Did you learn those on the street or in your life before?"

"What makes you think there was a life before?" Felicity countered.

Thea let out a tiny sigh.

"There's a look you get sometimes," she said seriously. "I see it most times when I talk about Ollie."

A shadow passed over over Felicity's face.

"See, that's it right there," Thea said. "It makes me wonder if…"

"Don't," Felicity said flatly.

Thea pressed her lips together.

"Okay," she said after a while. "But so you know, if you ever want to _really_ talk. I'll be more than happy to listen."

Felicity didn't respond so Thea didn't force it.

"I need to get to the office," Thea said, plainly not pleased by the prospect. "If I don't file those papers the world will come to a cataclysmic end."

"You don't want to be a lawyer," Felicity said. "Why don't you find an internship doing something else?"

"And give my parents another reason to question my life choices?" Thea said wryly. "It was bad enough when I introduced my mother to Roy. You'd have thought he'd just landed from Mars."

"You make your mom sound like a bitch," Felicity said.

Thea made a face.

"She's not…or at least not all the time," Thea said. "I think she's just lived in that world too long; she cares more about what people will think than about how I feel. It's frustrating. And I mean, where was all this micro parenting when I was a kid and actually wanted it? I can't count the number of times my dad was too busy to read me a bedtime story or I couldn't hug my mother because she was all dressed to go out."

"The grass is always greener," Felicity murmured.

"What do you mean?" Thea asked.

"You wanted more attention from your parents," Felicity said. "There were times I wished I'd had less from mine."

Thea stared at her and then her eyes narrowed a little.

"Don't think I don't see what you did there, Smoaky," she said. "Waiting until you know I have to go to reveal important, personal, information."

Felicity didn't dispute it.

"Same time, same place tomorrow?" Thea asked.

"New place," Felicity said mildly. "Corner of Jackson and Houston. Look for the streetlamp opposite the pet store."

"See you tomorrow, Smoaky," Thea said. "Stay safe, okay?"

Felicity nodded and Thea smiled and gave her a small wave as she crossed the street to hail a cab in the direction of her office.

It wasn't the first time Thea's last words to her before they parted ways for the day were to "stay safe". Felicity wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. She knew it was Thea's way of trying to be casual without being glib and she appreciated that. Felicity had learned that it was better to deal with cold, hard truths rather than trying to sugarcoat things. And the truth was that no matter how careful she was, the streets of Starling could be dangerous. Taking her safety for granted wasn't something Felicity could afford and the fact that Thea recognized that earned her points in Felicity's book.

Over the last several weeks, Felicity had come to realize that there was more to Thea than her last name and expensive wardrobe. She was intelligent and insightful and sincerely empathetic. It was that last part though, that also gave Felicity pause.

Thea telling her to stay safe implied that the younger girl cared, that she would be affected in some way if anything were to happen to Felicity. That wasn't something Felicity was comfortable with. It wasn't for her own sake because life had already taught her that you couldn't count on anything. For all Felicity knew in a week or a few months or even tomorrow, Thea might just stop showing up.

And that was fine. Hell, she was half expecting it anyway. What bothered her was the reverse. She didn't want to be the reason that Thea, or anyone else, experienced that god-awful gut wrenching sensation that came from losing something you cared about. It was precisely why, in addition to not letting herself get attached to anyone or anyplace, she'd actively avoided letting other people get attached to her.

"Penny for your thoughts there, Smoaky," Detective Lance said.

Felicity looked up sharply and only relaxed once she realized who it was. It wasn't like her to be snuck up on, proof that she'd been too lost in her thoughts for comfort.

Detective Lance held up the cup of coffee he was carrying and then nodded to the one Felicity had her hand wrapped around.

"Seems like someone beat me to it," he said.

He sat down on the bench next to her.

"Caught a case last this week," Lance told her. "Some guy hacking into bank vaults, wiping 'em out. We figure he's got to be using a pretty sophisticated set up. We've been searching recent tech purchases but no dice. Figure he probably gets his gear on the black."

He turned to look at her.

"You hear anything about stolen electronics or anything movin' around town?" he asked.

Felicity shook her head.

"I can put my ear to the ground though," she said.

"Yeah, okay," Lance agreed. "Whoever this is, they're good."

_I'm better_.

The thought popped into her mind and objectively, Felicity knew it was probably true. The percentage of people in the world with her IQ and technical skills was small. By and large, they tended to work for government agencies or huge multinational conglomerates, selling their souls for the supposed sake of research.

"I'll let you know if I find anything you can use," Felicity said.

"'preciate that," Lance said, getting his feet. "You take care now, Smoaky."

He headed down the street where his cruiser was parked and Felicity pulled on her backpack before picking up the coffee she was still nursing. She decided to walk through the park on her way to the Glades. There was a sort of…colony there for lack of a better word where street rats sometimes gathered. Mostly it was a place to score drugs, liquor or sex; it all depended on what poison you were looking for. If there were any rumors floating around about massive quantities of stolen electronics that would be the place to find out about it.

As usual, she took her time walking. Living on the streets, Felicity had developed a whole new understanding of the futility of rushing anywhere for anyone or anything. When you thought about it, racing through life only meant that you were racing to your death. The way Felicity saw it that was nothing to be in a hurry about even if it wasn't anything to run away from either.

Truth was, Felicity thought about death a lot. She wasn't by any means suicidal but she spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not death was really just another form of release, the climax of a life whether it was well lived or not.

She wondered if it had been that for her brother. If by the time he'd taken his last breath, he'd actually been glad to just let go. She wondered if she would feel that same sense of relief when it was her time to die.

When she got to the pond where parents and nannies often brought small children to feed the ducks, Felicity settled down with her back braced against a tree trunk. Diggle had liked coming here and Felicity came here when she wanted to feel a little closer to him.

Not in the mood to carve, Felicity let her eyes slide halfway closed. She could still observe all the different people around her but she could let her mind rest too. It was nice and Felicity felt refreshed by the time she set out on the move again.

Refreshed but not relaxed. The deeper she went into the Glades, the more alert and on edge she was, her fingers wrapped securely around the knife in her pocket, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

She made it to her destination without incident and she paused to scan the perimeter. It didn't look any different than the last time she'd been there although it had been seven months at least.

"Smoaky?"

Felicity spun around to see who was calling her name and the tension eased a little when she recognized the spiky black hair and leather jacket.

"Sin," she said.

"It's been forever," Sin said. "Where you been?"

"Here and there," Felicity replied.

"I get that," Sin said.

Felicity moved closer so she could speak quietly and limit the likelihood of being overheard by the wrong people.

"You hear anything about big time electronics hitting the streets down here?" Felicity asked her.

Sin shook her head no.

"Word around here is mostly about this new drug called Vertigo," Sin said. "Main dealer's some guy calls himself The Count."

Sin made air quotation marks when she said the man's name and she rolled her eyes.

"Criminals in these parts are starting to seriously lack for imagination," Sin said.

"Seems like it," Felicity agreed. "Thanks for the intel."

She knew Sin had a pretty good grasp on what was happening in this part of Starling so the information was likely to be solid. She'd pass both tips onto Detective Lance the next time she saw him and let the SPCD do its thing. They'd either catch the bad guys or they wouldn't but Felicity wasn't going to take unnecessary risks to get more details.

There was a reason she rarely passed through this neighborhood.

"I guess that means you're not sticking around," Sin said knowingly.

"This isn't my scene," Felicity said.

"I don't think it's anyone's scene," Sin offered. "Just someplace you go when the alternatives suck worse."

A glance at the sky told Felicity the sun was going to be setting soon and she wanted to be on the other side of the city when it did.

"See you when I see you," she said to Sin, before taking a different route out of the Glades than she'd used to come in.

Based on where she'd told Thea to meet her the next morning, Felicity decided to spend the night near to the library downtown. There was an archway around the back entrance that gave good cover from the street. The nights she spent there, Felicity allowed herself to sleep a little longer and a little more deeply since the risk of exposure was reduced. The extra rest helped her to keep her functioning even if she only managed to snatch a few hours here and there the rest of the week.

Two hours after she'd left the Glades, Felicity was setting up for the night. She pulled off her boots and rubbed her feet a little, wincing at the soreness that never seemed to fully dissipate considering how much walking she did. Most of the time, she slept with her shoes on because she never knew when she might have to make an unexpected run for it but for once, she decided to risk it. She lined the boots up neatly behind her backpack and extracted an old army blanket from inside of it. Curling into the wall, she wrapped herself into the blanket and used her backpack as a pillow.

It didn't take her long to fall asleep but almost as soon as she did, the nightmare began. She was caught in its grip for what felt like forever and when she bolted upright, gasping for breath, she knew it was would a good long while before she rested easy again.

* * *

"Isn't it beautiful, Raisa?" Thea said, turning the carving this way and that.

"Very," Raisa said with an indulgent smile.

"It's got to be a good sign, right?" Thea said. "The fact that Smoaky made it just for me. At least I know she doesn't hate having me around."

"No one could hate having you around," Oliver said, stepping into the kitchen and dropping a kiss on top of her head. "And who's Smoaky?"

"Just a friend," Thea said vaguely.

"Never heard you mention her before," Oliver pointed out.

"A new friend," Thea amended.

"What aren't you telling me?" Oliver asked.

Thea sighed.

"It's not big deal," she said. "She's just the person who turned my purse into the police."

"I thought Detective Lance said some homeless woman brought it in off the street," Oliver said as he rounded the counter and kissed Raisa's cheek in greeting.

He pulled a beer from the fridge and turned to face his sister. Her slightly guilty expression said it all and her next words sealed it.

"Don't tell Mom and Dad," she pleaded.

"Relax, Speedy," Oliver said. "You know your secrets are always safe with me."

Thea beamed at him.

"Look what she made for me," she said, holding the dolphin out for his inspection. "Isn't it awesome?"

"Very cool," Oliver agreed.

"You will stay for dinner?" Raisa asked him.

"I wish," Oliver said. "Laurel and I are having dinner with her friend McKenna and McKenna's husband. He owns a business QC might be interested in acquiring and Dad wants me to feel him out."

"What an exciting life you lead, Oliver," Thea said mockingly.

"Be nice to me," Oliver instructed. "Or else I'm not giving you those Fashion Week passes you asked me to get for you."

Thea made an exaggerated motion of zipping her lips just as their mother walked in.

"Thea, there you are," Moira said. "I need you…"

She trailed off when she spotted Oliver.

"Don't you have a business dinner?" she asked him. "Your father said it was important."

"Just came home to spend a few minutes with my favorite girls," Oliver said lightly. "Our reservation isn't until 8:30 so I still have some time."

Moira sniffed but then turned her attention to Thea.

"The Arts Society Mother Daughter breakfast is tomorrow," Moira said. "Make sure you're ready to go at 7:30."

"What? No," Thea said. "I can't go to that. I have to…"

"I've already spoken with Daniel," Moira interrupted. "I told him you wouldn't be in until the afternoon and he understands. And please, dress conservatively."

"Mom, you're not listening to me," Thea said. " I have other plans, okay?"

Moira arched an eyebrow.

"Sneaking off to spend time with your boyfriend," she said disdainfully, "is not an acceptable reason for missing such an important event on the calendar. You're coming and that's final."

Moira turned around and was gone before Thea could get another word of protest in. She turned stricken eyes toward her brother.

"Ollie," said plaintively. "You have to do something."

"Honestly, Speedy," Oliver said. "My advice is to just suck it up. I'm sure Roy will understand."

"I don't meet up with Roy in the mornings," Thea said. "I meet up with Smoaky. And if I don't turn up tomorrow she's either going to think that something happened to me or that I just decided to abandon our friendship. I'm not even sure she considers it a friendship or cares that much about it but it's important to _me. _I don't want to lose it just because Mom has a bug up her ass."

"Thea," Raisa reprimanded.

"Okay, just calm down," Oliver said. "What time do you usually meet up?"

"Quarter to eight," Thea said. "I take her coffee, sometimes donuts and we just kind of hang out until 8:30 when I have to head to the office. Sometimes, depending on where we meet up, I can hang a little longer."

Oliver mentally reviewed his calendar for the next morning.

"What about if I go for you?" he said after a moment.

"You'd do that?" Thea asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Oliver said with a small smile. "I think I can manage to carry a cup of coffee and deliver an explanation of your whereabouts."

"Okay but it has to be plain black from Dunkin," Thea said. "And take sugar and cream separate because she never seems to drink it the same way twice in a row."

"Noted," Oliver said.

"And don't startle her," Thea said. "No sudden movements because that kind of freaks her out and she has all kind of ninja defense moves."

"She's not violent, is she?" Oliver asked, suddenly questioning the wisdom of enabling his sister's relationship with a homeless stranger.

"No," Thea said. "She just knows how to protect herself which is important considering that she's a woman alone living on the streets."

"Fair point," Oliver said. "Anything else I need to know?"

"I'll text you the address where we're supposed to meet in the morning," Thea said. "And Ollie?"

"Yes, Speedy?" Oliver asked patiently.

"Be extra nice," Thea said. "I don't know her story yet, not really, but I know she's had a really rough time and I don't think it's just because she's homeless."

Oliver smiled.

"Why are you smiling?" Thea asked.

"Because I'm proud of you," Oliver said. "Of the kind of person you're turning into."

"Oh," Thea said, smiling back. "Thanks, Ollie."

"I am proud of _both_ of you," Raisa interjected. "And happy to see you both happy too, mmm?"

Oliver and Thea both smiled at her and then Thea switched her focus back to her brother.

"You are happy, right Ollie?" Thea asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Oliver asked.

"Just a question," Thea said. "You look tired and stressed a lot lately."

Oliver's expression softened and he walked over to Thea and slung an arm around her neck, bringing her head against his shoulder.

"Things are hectic at work and with the wedding plans," he admitted. "But don't worry about me, Speedy. I have everything I need."

"Promise?" Thea asked.

"Swear it," Oliver said.

He glanced at his watch.

"I need to get going," he said. "See you tomorrow sometime. Good luck with, Mom."

Thea's disgruntled expression kept Oliver smiling as he made his way upstairs to grab a quick shower and change suits. His driver, Jake, was waiting when he exited the front door and Oliver shot a regretful look in the direction of his Aston Martin Speedster. It felt like forever since he'd been able to drive himself anywhere, let alone drive just for the pleasure of it.

Forcing the thought aside, Oliver climbed into the town car and extracted his ipad. He took advantage of the drive to Table Salt to review the files his assistant had compiled on the company owned by McKenna's husband, Roger Evans.

Apparently they'd just developed some technology that complemented one of the projects that Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences division was working on. Robert Queen was determined to acquire it. Simply buying the company was the easy way but he was fully prepared to execute a hostile takeover if necessary.

Oliver sincerely hoped it wasn't going to come to that.

Jake pulled the car to a stop at the curb and the valet opened Oliver's door for him. Oliver slipped him a $20 and made his way into the restaurant. He spotted Laurel immediately and made his way over to her.

"Hey," he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Hi," she said smiling at him. "I'm glad you're early."

"Missed me?" Oliver teased.

"Well, yes," Laurel said. "But also, I wanted to know what you think about having two rehearsal dinners. I think it would be nice to have one just for family."

"I've told you a million times I think you should have whatever you want," Oliver said. "What matters to me is marrying you and then just _being_ married to you."

Laurel gave him an exasperated look.

"You're saying sweet things so that you can get out of deciding things," she accused without heat.

"I absolutely am," Oliver agreed, grinning at her. "And you're going to let me get away with it."

"Why on earth would I do that?" Laurel asked, eyes flashing in amusement.

"Do you want the romantic reason or the practical reason?" Oliver asked.

"You mean those are actually two separate options?" Laurel deadpanned.

"Smart ass," Oliver said. "So practicalities first. Things are picking up at work; we have our Q3 board meeting at the beginning of next month. Until then, the amount of time I have free to deal with wedding stuff is going to be…minimal at best."

"So the romantic reason is really your plan for making it up to me," Laurel surmised.

"As soon as that board meeting is over we can spend the weekend in that cottage in Vermont that you love so much," Oliver said. "I'll even make sure the maple cookies are waiting. Sound good?"

Laurel smiled but Oliver could tell she was a little disappointed. They didn't have time to discuss it further though because McKenna and Roger arrived and the rest of the evening passed with the usual business and society small talk.

Oliver knew he was particularly good at this part of his job. He was charming and he found it easy to engage people and draw them out. Sometimes, he even enjoyed it. Tonight wasn't really one of those nights. It had been too long a day and he was beyond relieved when they said their goodnights and parted ways.

Jake drove them to Laurel's apartment and after making arrangements for Jake to pick him up in the morning Oliver followed Laurel into the building. Technically, he still lived at Queen Manor. It was something he'd decided to do primarily because it allowed him to get some extra time in with Thea.

There was also the fact that renovations were ongoing to the penthouse that he and Laurel had chosen as their first residence once they were married. It made no sense for Oliver to move all his stuff into Laurel's current apartment only to have to move again in less than six months.

"Have you heard from Tommy lately?" Laurel asked, stepping out of her heels.

"He sent me a text from Tahiti," Oliver said. "It was a picture of him on a beach with three girls and a pitcher of something alcoholic."

"Charming," Laurel said dryly.

Oliver smiled and collapsed onto the couch. He didn't bother to share rest of Tommy's message, which had included a pointed reference to Oliver being an idiot for a) not ditching work to spend time with his best friend and b) committing the cardinal sin of monogamy.

"He's having fun," Oliver said.

"He's avoiding responsibility," Laurel countered, curling herself next to him. "But it's part of his charm so we all just let him do it."

"You sound like you want to stage an intervention," Oliver observed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"Not my place," Laurel said. "And anyway, my job is to take care of _you_."

She ran her fingers absently through his hair.

"You do it well," Oliver murmured, already half asleep.

"Not on the couch, Ollie," Laurel said, getting to her feet and tugging him up. "You'll hurt your neck."

Oliver let himself be led into the bedroom and he managed to kick off his shoes and yank off his tie before he stretched out onto the bed. He was about to close his eyes when his phone, which was still in his pants pocket, buzzed.

Fishing it out Oliver saw it was a text from Thea.

_Corner of Jackson and Houston. Streetlamp opposite the pet store. 7:45. Don't be late! And wear gray, it makes your eyes pop._

Oliver huffed out a laugh.

"Who's texting you so late?" Laurel asked.

"I promised Thea I'd take care of something for her tomorrow morning," Oliver answered. "She's just reminding me."

He set his alarm for 7:00 am and responded to Thea's text, reassuring her that everything would be fine. Exiling the phone to the bedside table, he crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. He was only peripherally aware of Laurel moving around the room, no doubt putting herself through her usual marathon skin routine and by the time she crawled into bed and curled into his side, Oliver was already fast asleep.

He slept well and dreamlessly, as was often the case, and by the time his alarm went off, he was already awake. Easing Laurel's head from his shoulder onto his pillow, Oliver slid out of bed. He padded into the bathroom, took a shower and then peered at himself in the mirror. Deciding that he could get away with not shaving for another day, he got dressed, rolling his eyes at himself even as he gave into Thea's request to wear gray.

Knotting his tie, Oliver made his way into the kitchen and put the coffee on. Laurel was many things but a morning person was not one of them. If she didn't have coffee before even attempting to get out of bed, bad things would happen to whoever happened to cross her path.

Filling her stainless steel travel mug a few moments later, Oliver grabbed one of those caramel biscotti she was addicted to and carried both items into the bedroom. He placed them on the beside table closest to her and then leaned down to kiss her temple.

"I have to head out early," he murmured. "I'll call you later, okay? Coffee's on the table."

Laurel made an incoherent sound followed by a mumbled "love you" and Oliver smiled as he slipped out.

Jake was waiting for him downstairs, punctual as ever.

"Good morning, sir," he said.

"Morning, Jake," Oliver said easily.

He'd long since given up trying to get the other man to call him Oliver.

"Where to, sir?" Jake asked.

"To whatever Dunkin Donuts is closest to the corner of Jackson and Houston," Oliver said.

If Jake was at all surprised, he didn't let it show. He simply pulled the car into traffic and used the GPS system to determine exactly where they were going. 15 minutes later, he pulled to a stop and shot Oliver an expectant look in the rearview mirror.

"I'm going to meet a friend of Thea's a few blocks from here," Oliver said. "Circle around, see if you can find a parking space. I'll give you a call when I've finished up."

Jake nodded his understanding and Oliver climbed out of the car, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he did so. He stepped into Dunkin's, aware almost immediately that people started to recognize him. He kept a pleasant smile on his face but one that didn't invite anyone to engage him.

He ordered Smoaky's coffee and then, since he wasn't sure what kind of donuts she liked, ordered one of everything. On impulse, he ordered a second coffee for himself.

Dropping a $20 bill into the tip jar, Oliver winked at the young woman behind the counter and made his way onto the street.

It only took him a few minutes to get to the corner of Jackson and Houston and he spotted the pet store. Crossing the street, he walked toward the streetlamp most directly opposite. He looked around, realizing that for all her instructions, Thea had forgotten to give him an actual description of the woman. He thought about texting her but knew that would only provoke their mother's ire and Thea's relationship with their mother was tense enough at the moment.

He saw a young woman with a large backpack – the kind climbers use – walk up on the other side of the street lamp. She was wearing jeans that looked a bit too big for her, tucked into a pair of construction boots and a sweatshirt with ARMY printed across it.

Oliver dismissed her at first but after another ten minutes passed and no one else approached the rendezvous point, he started to wonder.

"Uh, excuse me?" Oliver said, calling out to make sure that if this _was_ Smoaky, he didn't startle her.

She looked over at him and Oliver saw a brief flash of recognition in her eyes.

"Are you Smoaky?" Oliver asked.

She narrowed her eyes.

"Where's Thea?" she asked curtly.

"I guess that's a yes then," Oliver said, walking closer. "Thea got kidnapped by our mother this morning for a mother-daughter society event. I know she'd much rather be here but Mom didn't really give her a choice."

He paused.

"I'm Thea's older brother, Oliver," he offered. "I'm not sure if she's mentioned me to you or…"

"A couple times," Felicity replied.

"Okay," Oliver said, cocking his head a little to the side and studying her.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but Smoaky was not at all what he'd imagined. For one thing, she had an extremely striking face; bold slashing eyebrows, wide blue eyes that tilted up at the corners, elegant nose, and full lips. If he were being honest, he wouldn't hesitate to describe her as beautiful despite the ill-fitting clothes and the particularly ugly hat on her head.

"You're staring," Felicity said. "It's rude."

Oliver blinked.

"You're right. I'm sorry," he said. "You're just…not at all what I had imagined. You're a lot younger which is actually why I didn't approach you sooner. I figured there was no way…"

"Because in your experience only old people are homeless?" Felicity asked.

"Touché," Oliver allowed.

He held out the box of donuts.

"As per Her Majesty Thea Queen's instructions," he said lightly. "Donuts and coffee."

Felicity frowned at the box but accepted it. She also took the coffee that Oliver handed her.

"Thanks," she said.

She started to walk away and Oliver found himself calling out to her.

"Wait, that's it?" he asked.

She turned around to frown at him.

"Thea says you two spend at least a half an hour talking every morning," Oliver said.

"Thea does most of the talking," Felicity said with a small shrug.

"That's generally the case," Oliver smiled. "But I like to think I'm not an awful conversationalist either. I mean, unless there's somewhere else you need to be."

"Isn't there somewhere else _you_ need to be?" Felicity countered.

"Not for a while," Oliver said.

He gestured to a bench that was a few feet away.

"We could sit," he said.

He was convinced she was going to say no and he wasn't sure why that disappointed him but she took him by surprise, giving a jerky nod of agreement instead.

Oliver grinned at her.

"So Thea mentioned you were the one who brought her purse to the police," he said. "But she didn't say how you two actually met."

"She came looking for me," Felicity said, sitting down after she'd put her coffee and the donuts on the bench and shrugged off her backpack. "Said she wanted to thank me."

"That makes sense," Oliver said. "Not everyone would have done what you did."

She shot him an aggravated look.

"Not everyone who lives on the street is a criminal," Felicity said. "There are plenty of decent people with shit luck in the world."

"I'm sure that's true," Oliver said, not taking offense at her tone. "I just meant that not every one is that honest. And believe me, that part of a person's character has nothing to do with having a permanent address. There are plenty of assholes in the world with way better luck than they deserve."

This time the look he got from her was tinged with surprise but she didn't make any further comment so Oliver changed the subject.

"Thea showed me the dolphin you made for her," he said. "You're very talented."

"It's not a big deal," Felicity said, sipping her coffee. "Just something that passes the time."

"Well, it meant a lot to Thea," Oliver said. "She considers you a friend and if there's one thing that can be said for Thea it's that she's extremely protective of and loyal to the people she cares about."

"Not many people would encourage their little sister to make friends with someone like me," Felicity observed.

"Someone like you?" Oliver repeated.

He tilted his head a little, his lips half curled in a bemused smile.

"I thought we'd established that you're one of those 'decent people with shit luck'," he said.

"I said those people exist," Felicity corrected. "I never said I was one of them."

"If not one of them then what?" Oliver questioned.

Felicity shook her head and got to her feet.

She took two donuts from the box and wrapped them in a napkin before tucking them into the side pocket of her backpack and then she stood up to swing it onto her back.

"Thea usually eats most of those," she said, nodding toward the remaining donuts.

"I'll take them home for her," Oliver said, deciding not to argue with her obvious intent to leave. "Should I tell her to meet you here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay," Felicity said.

Oliver stood up with the box of donuts tucked under one arm.

"I'm glad I got a chance to meet you, Smoaky," he said.

She acknowledged that with a small nod and then she walked away without a backward glance. Oliver waited until she'd disappeared entirely from view before calling Jake to come find him and then texting Thea.

_Mission accomplished. She said for you to meet her here tomorrow._

He got half a dozen smiley faces in return along with a declaration that he was the best brother in the history of anything. Pleased that he'd been able to make Thea happy, Oliver was in a good mood when he got to work.

It didn't last long. He'd barely booted up his computer before emails came flooding in and files piled up on his desk. Everything required immediate attention and he was drowning in reports, project plans and technical analyses within the hour.

By the time he left the office sixteen hours later, his meeting with Smoaky had all but faded entirely from his consciousness. It wasn't until he got Thea's panicked phone call the next morning that he thought about it again.

"Whoa, whoa, just slow down," Oliver said into his cell phone.

He was in the hallway leading to QC's main conference room where his Operations team was waiting to give him a project update on the roll out of their newest system. He'd taken Thea's call because she so rarely called him when she knew he was at work.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Are you absolutely sure Smoaky said to meet her here?" Thea asked. "On Jackson and Houston?"

"Yeah," Oliver said.

"She's not here," Thea said.

"Maybe she's running late," Oliver said.

"No," Thea argued. "No matter where we meet, she always gets there before me. Ollie, what if something happened to her?"

"Don't borrow trouble, Speedy," Oliver said. "There are any number of possible explanations."

"Like she's hurt," Thea said shakily. "Or worse than hurt."

Sensing that his sister was on the verge of tears, Oliver ran a hand over his face.

"Here's what we're going to do," Oliver said, making sure his voice was calm and steady. "You're going to wait another fifteen minutes. If she still hasn't shown up, you're going to call me back. I'll come get you and we'll go talk to Detective Lance."

"Okay," Thea sniffed.

Oliver disconnected the call and stepped into his meeting. They'd just started to discuss the second phase of testing when his cell rang. Seeing Thea's name on the screen, Oliver felt his stomach sink.

Holding up a hand to interrupt the executive who was speaking, Oliver answered.

"I'm here," he said.

"There's no sign of her, Ollie," Thea said and this time, Oliver knew she was crying. "Can you come get me now?"

"I'm on my way," Oliver said.

He hung up, pushed his chair back and got to his feet.

"I'm sorry but I need to leave," he said.

"Mr. Queen," an executive named Betsy protested. "We need approval on these projections before we can prepare the final board reports and your father wants to see them by close of business today…"

"This is an emergency," Oliver said. "If my father has a problem with my priorities, he can let me know so himself."

And there was no doubt in his mind, Oliver thought as he walked out of the room, that Robert Queen would do exactly that.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am beyond amazed and grateful for the incredible response you have all given this story. I know I don't respond to comments, because even though I wish I had the time to get to them all, I don't and I don't think it would be fair to answer some but not others. That said, you've given me some incredibly insightful reviews and I appreciate all of them, no matter if they're one line or 50!**

**You can also feel free to reach out to me on Tumblr or Twitter if you want to chat. I'm amouretautresdemons on Tumblr and OfLoveandDemons on Twitter. It's a bit easier for me to interact with everyone over there.**

**With all that "housekeeping" out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I look forward to all your comments.**

* * *

She made the right call.

Stuffing her hands under her sweatshirt, Felicity leaned further into wall outside of Starling City's train station.

It was on the opposite side of town to Jackson and Houston where she was supposed to have met Thea earlier this morning. The way Felicity figured things, Thea would be pissed or a little hurt but she would get over it and move on with her life in relatively short order.

And it wasn't as if Felicity hadn't already been thinking that the time for something like this was getting close. She'd been turning the signs of Thea's attachment to her over in her brain for days, trying to decide what to do about it.

In sending Oliver to meet her yesterday, Thea had helped her come to the right conclusion, even if that hadn't been her intention. Rolling her neck in both directions, Felicity thought back to her brief interaction with Thea's brother.

He'd said that she wasn't what he'd expected and truth be told, he wasn't what she'd expected either. She'd recognized him from the picture obviously but he was much _bigger_ than she'd anticipated; almost as tall as Diggle had been if not quite as broad.

But more than his physical attributes – and Felicity could admit that there were a great many of those – he'd surprised her with how at ease he seemed sitting and talking to her on a public bench. He'd been as comfortable there as she imagined he was in the luxury of his McManor. It struck her as odd because most people felt and acted awkward when dealing with those who were so plainly less fortunate than they were.

Felicity saw it all the time when people came to volunteer at the shelters for the first time. Most of them never quite knew what to say or where to look and they seemed to be in a constant state of nervousness. Even Thea had needed a couple of days to find her comfort zone but not Oliver. He hadn't had a problem looking her in the eye. He hadn't taken offense when she'd been terse with him and he seemed to genuinely mean it when he said that he was glad he'd gotten to meet her.

It was slightly jarring for her, on top of which, the obvious love and affection he had for Thea brought far too many memories of Adam crashing to the surface. None of those things though, was the reason she'd decided not to keep her coffee date with Thea this morning.

It was the part about Thea considering her a friend and being loyal and protective when it came to people she cared about, that had done it. Those words had been like a slap in the face, reminding Felicity that she didn't want the weight or the responsibility that came along with letting someone care about her. The minute you accepted those things, it was a tacit admission that you cared back.

As much as she had come to like Thea and enjoy her non-stop chatter during their mornings together, Felicity wasn't willing to go there. It was going to be much better like this, for her and for Thea.

Head resting against the wall, Felicity fought the urge to let her eyes drift closed. She hadn't slept any more last night than she had the night before so she was tired. But the thought of leaving herself open to the nightmares was enough to keep her awake. In a few days, it would catch up to her and she'd give herself one night in a shelter to crash into a dreamless sleep.

It was unfortunately a familiar pattern. As many dreams as she'd had about Adam right after he died, they hadn't started turning into nightmares until after things disintegrated with her parents and she was out on the street.

The first one had hit her within the first week. Diggle had had to shake her so hard her teeth rattled just to get her to wake up and Felicity had sobbed into his shoulder for hours, mumbling incoherently about her parents hating her for killing her brother.

Knowing that the best way to keep herself from falling asleep was to keep moving, Felicity stood up and pulled on her backpack. She briefly considered using some of the money she'd saved from her collaboration with Detective Lance to buy a one way ticket to somewhere else but decided instead, to get a cup of coffee from McDonalds.

She used their bathroom first and after washing her hands, she splashed some cold water on her face as well. Using a travel toothbrush and toothpaste from one of the toiletry kits they gave out at the shelters, she brushed her teeth. Going through those motions, helped her feel a little bit more alert and the coffee she picked up on her way out helped more.

She walked across town, careful to avoid any of the spots where she'd met up with Thea just in case, to a shelter she hadn't been to in a while. Because of its proximity to the Glades, this particular shelter was often crowded. It was a little bit understaffed but all of the employees were pleasant and most of them had spent time on the streets themselves.

Staking out a corner, Felicity decided to carve for a few hours before she took her shower and did her laundry. She wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed when she heard what sounded like Thea's voice coming from somewhere in the middle of the room.

Inching closer, Felicity scanned the room and picked Thea out almost immediately.

"Calls herself Smoaky," Thea was saying to one of the shelter supervisors. "God, I don't even know if that's her real name. She's about 5'5. And she's always wearing that _stupid_ hat so I don't even know what color her hair is. For all I know she might not even _have _hair. She has blue eyes though. Not that that helps because hello, _millions_ of people have blue eyes and…"

"Ma'am," the supervisor said. "I'm going to need you to stay calm."

Thea brushed impatiently at her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she told the supervisor. "I'm just really worried and the police won't let me file a missing persons report so my brother and I split up to look in all the different shelters because she wasn't in any of the places I know of, where she likes to hang out and..."

She took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "The last couple shelters I stopped in, they had like a PA system to make announcements. Do you think you could that?"

Those last words spurred Felicity into action. The last thing she needed was someone making announcements and by default putting it out there that she had any kind of connection to Thea Queen. That was the kind of thing that could have unpleasant consequences if word got out. As it was, she was going to have to strike all the shelters that Thea had apparently already visited from her rotation for a while.

Moving briskly, Felicity grabbed hold of Thea's arm.

"Smoaky!" Thea cried, her whole body sagging in relief.

"Shhh!" Felicity said. "Keep your voice down. Come here."

She pulled Thea in the direction of the corner where she'd left her backpack and scanned the room to see how much or how little attention was being paid to them.

Luckily for her, in this particular shelter, people had so many problems of their own that they tended not to mind each other's business.

"What are you doing here?" Felicity asked.

"What am I…?" Thea repeated blinking in confusion. "I'm looking for you! I was terrified that something serious had happened to you, that you'd been injured or attacked again or hit by a car or…"

"I'm fine," Felicity interrupted.

Thea narrowed her eyes a little.

"I see that," she agreed. "Then how come you didn't show this morning?"

Felicity fidgeted a little. This was exactly what she'd been trying to avoid; the explanations and the accountability. But if these were the answers that Thea needed to accept how things would be, then for once, Felicity would give them willingly.

"Because I think we should stop," Felicity said. "With the coffee in the morning."

"What?" Thea asked, obviously taken aback. "Why?"

"You're too attached to me," Felicity said bluntly. "The fact that you probably blew off your internship and tried to involve the police because I stood you up once is proof of that."

Felicity tried to ignore the wounded expression on Thea's face or the tightness in her chest because of it.

"I'm sorry my concern was so inconvenient," Thea said, "and that my attempts to make sure you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere don't meet with your approval but where I come from it's called being friends and having each other's back."

"That's the whole point," Felicity said. "You and I _aren't_ friends. I _don't_ have your back and I don't need you to have mine. I can take care of myself."

Thea bit her lip and Felicity could see the sheen of tears in her eyes. She hated this feeling, hated causing pain when she'd been on the receiving end of it. But precisely because she had been on the receiving end of it, she knew that this paled in comparison to what Thea would feel if they continued to get close, become friends even, and then some random act of violence or fate intervened to put an end to it.

She wouldn't wish _that _kind of pain on anyone.

"And even if none of that were true," Felicity continued roughly. "Be realistic. You can't bring me coffee every day for the rest of your life. This was going to come to an end sometime and it may as well be now."

Thea shook her head.

"Don't you ever get tired of shutting people out?' she asked.

"You're a good person," Felicity said thickly. "And you were kind to me. I…"

"I'm not a child," Thea bit out. "I don't need you to placate me. There's just one thing I want to know. Why'd you take the picture? The one of me and Ollie. It was the only thing missing from my wallet when I got it back. I noticed because it's one of my favorite pictures of us; we took it after I passed my driving test."

Felicity sucked in a harsh breath. The lack of sleep, the nightmares, the constant stream of thoughts about Adam, were all like battering rams that had weakened her defenses with their relentlessness. _That _question in _this_ moment made her want to curl into a ball and cry, something she hadn't let herself do in a very long time, not since Diggle had been alive to give her a safe shoulder to cry on.

"Come on Smoaky," Thea said. "I think I deserve an honest answer to that at least."

Felicity reached into her pocket and extracted the picture. She thrust it at Thea.

"I shouldn't have taken it," she said.

"But you did," Thea said. "I don't need it back. I have copies. I just want to know what made you take that instead of the credit cards or the cash or hell, even the lipstick. A picture is a personal thing. Generally, it has no value except to the people in it or people who care about them."

Felicity's fingers curled tightly around the photograph, wrinkling it.

"It reminded me…" she began.

She shook her head and tried again.

"It reminded me of my brother," Felicity finally rasped. "Of…the last picture we took together before he died."

She saw a flash of sympathy in Thea's eyes before it was gone.

"Thank you for telling me that," Thea said quietly.

She paused briefly.

"I guess I should go," she said.

She let the words hang there, almost as if she was still hoping that Felicity would stop her. When it became clear that wasn't going to happen, Felicity saw her stiffen her spine and pull herself together.

"Good luck, Smoaky," Thea said. "I hope you don't ever actually need it."

* * *

"Unacceptable, Oliver," Robert Queen barked.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Oliver replied, leaning back in his chair. "Thea was worried about a friend and she had legitimate cause for concern. I wasn't going to let her handle it alone. Besides which, I spoke to Betsy. We finalized the projections and the reports will be on your desk first thing in the morning."

"Not good enough," Robert insisted.

"It's going to have to be," Oliver said tightly. "Hong Kong and Sydney are both waiting to hear back from me so if we're done here, I'd like to get back to work."

Robert paused in his pacing and turned to face his son.

"You have all the right instincts for this business," he said. "And I value, quite highly, the contributions that you've been making lately."

"Good to know," Oliver said.

"But," Robert continued.

Oliver let out a dark laugh.

"Of course there's a but," he said.

"You haven't found the right balance between your work and your personal life," Robert said. "It's important that you do that. I know today was about your sister but Oliver, you're going to be married soon. You need to draw lines with Laurel the same way I did with your mother."

"No offense, Dad," Oliver said. "But I don't want my marriage to Laurel to be anything like your marriage to Mom so forgive me if I'm in no rush to take your marital advice."

Robert laughed, not the least bit offended.

"Don't be a fool, son," he said. "Men in our position marry for a lot of reasons and romantic love isn't the most important one. I care for your mother a great deal but the reason we're still married after all these years is because we've always shared the same ambitions and we each know what our role is in achieving them. We're partners and we respect the hell out of each other. Those things last a lot longer than love. Believe me. "

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose. These conversations with his father always left him struggling to decide how much of his life was constructed on the basis of what he wanted and how much was constructed on the basis of what was expected of him.

His work definitely fell on the expectation side of the scale. He felt like he'd always known that Queen Consolidated would be his to run one day. The idea that he'd ever do anything else hadn't even been entertained. He actually remembered the wife of one of his father's friends telling him not to be silly when, at eight, he'd insisted that he was going to be a helicopter rescue pilot.

"_You're going to run the biggest company in Starling City," she'd said. "Just like your daddy."_

Most of the time, he was fine with that. Sure, there were parts of the job that were tedious and that he didn't enjoy but there were also parts that excited him, like the work their applied sciences division was doing. So while he did sometimes wish he had more time to indulge his other interests, he wasn't unhappy with his professional life.

He wasn't unhappy in his personal life either. He loved Laurel and she was a good fit for him, for his life. They'd been friends for years before they got involved romantically and Laurel had always supported him. She'd always been there to chase away his doubts and boost his confidence when he needed it. She believed in him and that wasn't something Oliver got from a lot of people.

And his father wasn't entirely wrong. The fact that he and Laurel respected each other and wanted the same things _was_ the reason their relationship had lasted and why they were in a place where they felt comfortable taking it to the next level. It just wasn't the_ only_ reason.

They balanced each other out; he knew when to push her to let her hair down and just enjoy a moment and she knew when to pull him back and get him to focus. They had their problems just like every couple but they always worked things out because they were committed to each other.

Oliver would be lying if he said didn't occasionally question whether or not this was all there was to life - the high-powered job and the stable relationship to compliment it – but he knew that he wasn't in a position to complain.

"Let's just agree to disagree," Oliver said to his father.

"I better have those reports at the ass crack of dawn," Robert warned him, getting to his feet. "Good night, son."

"Good night," Oliver said.

He watched his father go and shook his head. Turning back to his computer, he fired off a few emails and was about to start reviewing the business case that Walter Steele had submitted for a new hire he wanted to make, when his phone rang.

"Hey you," he said once he'd picked up.

"Late night?" Laurel asked.

"Yes," Oliver said. "It will be."

"I was going to order Thai," she said. "Want me to save some for you?"

"I think I'm going to spend the night at the manor," Oliver said. "Thea had a rough day today. I want to check on her."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Laurel commented.

"Staying at the manor?" Oliver asked, confused.

"Checking on Thea," Laurel said. "Or at least, spending extra time with her."

"You're saying this like it's a bad thing," Oliver said.

"Don't be silly, Ollie," Laurel said. "I love how close you and Thea are. I just think you're avoiding the real issue."

"Which would be what?" Oliver asked.

"In a little more than five months, we'll be married and living in our new place and things are going to be different," Laurel said. "It's going to be an adjustment for you and for Thea and I think you should talk about it with her instead of trying to compensate. Don't think I missed those Fashion Week passes on your desk the other day."

"It's possible that you have a point," Oliver allowed. "It's just…things are tense between her and Mom and I know that Raisa is going to be there to take care of her but she's basically going to be living alone with our parents for the first time in a while and this isn't like when I was in college. Thea's older now, at a stage in her life where she's starting to make her own choices and if recent events are anything to go by, she's not exactly going to have our parents full support."

"But she'll always have yours," Laurel said. "You just need to make sure she knows that's not going to change just because you're married or living across town. And you need to _tell_ her instead of trying to reassure her with _things_."

"You've made your case, counselor," Oliver said.

"Good," Laurel said. "I'm going to let you get back to work. Call me in the morning?"

"Of course," Oliver said.

After they exchanged I love you's, Oliver hung up and turned his attention to the things he needed to finish up. He stayed at the office for another two hours before letting Jake drive him home.

Leaving his briefcase in the front foyer, he made his way upstairs and directly to Thea's room. He knocked and then stuck his head inside. Thea was curled up on her bed with her head in Roy's lap and it was plain that she'd been crying. She bolted upright when she saw him and Roy looked a little terrified.

Oliver stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"I'm not even going to ask how you got in here," he told Roy. "Just make sure you don't get caught on your way back out."

Roy nodded.

"Are you ready to tell me what happened this afternoon?" Oliver asked Thea.

She'd called him once she'd found Smoaky to tell him that he could go back to work. He'd been able to tell that she was upset but she refused to talk to him about it.

"Can you give me and Roy a minute?" Thea asked, wiping her eyes with the tissue clutched in her hand. "I'll come find you in your room."

"Okay," Oliver said slowly.

He made his way into his suite of rooms and traded his suit for a pair of black sweat pants. He'd just pulled on a white cotton t-shirt when Thea slipped into the room.

"I was mad at you earlier," Thea announced. "That's how come I didn't want to talk."

Oliver gave her a startled look.

"Mad at me?" he asked. "For what?"

"Smoaky said she didn't think we should keep meeting up and I thought you might have said something or done something yesterday that made her not want to see me anymore," Thea admitted.

"I can't imagine what," Oliver said.

"You probably didn't," Thea said, climbing onto his bed and sitting cross-legged. "Or maybe she just took something you said and used it as an excuse. That what Roy thinks. He thinks she got scared."

"Of what?" Oliver asked.

Thea shrugged.

"I don't know," she said.

She bit her lip.

"She had a brother who died," Thea said. "That's how come she took that picture of you and me that I always keep behind my driver's license. Anyway, it made me think about how I'd feel if anything ever happened to you and…I think…"

She shook her head and tears slipped freely down her cheeks.

"I'd be wrecked," she hiccupped. "I can't even imagine how horrible and lonely and scared I'd be and…"

"Hey," Oliver interrupted, sitting next to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulder. "You're not going to lose me."

"I know," Thea sniffed. "I'm just saying that if she was as close to her brother as I am to you, I guess I can see why she has so many walls up. I don't think you can ever get over something that hurts that much."

Oliver brushed her tears away with his thumb.

"When you lose something or someone that's important, it's normal to mourn," he told her. "But after that you have two choices. You can let it define everything about you and what comes next in your life or you can let it inspire you not to take anything for granted."

He kissed her forehead.

"And for the record, if anything ever does happen to me," Oliver said. "I'd want you to choose the second option."

Thea leaned into him and Oliver tightened his arm around her.

"Also for the record," Oliver said. "I'm sorry it didn't work out with you and Smoaky. I know you were really starting to care about her."

"I just wished I could have helped her," Thea said.

"People have to want help," Oliver pointed out.

"I know," Thea said. "But you have to have a reason to want it and I think that's the part that makes me really sad. She doesn't have anything that makes her want to fight for herself so how can anybody else?"

She sighed and closed her eyes.

"I would've though," she mumbled. "Cause I'm fierce like that."

Oliver smiled.

"She would have been lucky to have you as a friend," he said.

Her breathing evened out after a few minutes and Oliver figured all the emotions of the day were catching up with her. Gently, he put her to lie down properly and pulled the comforter half way over to cover her.

Crossing the room, he pulled a bottle of water from his mini fridge and thought about Thea's last comment; about Smoaky not having a reason to fight for herself, to want help processing her grief, assuming that was the issue.

He thought, not for the first time, that she wasn't much older than Thea. The fact that their situations weren't reversed was an accident of birth and not much more. He put himself in her brother's shoes and knew that if something happened to him and it was Thea in Smoaky's situation, he'd want someone to reach out to her and he wouldn't want them to give up.

He wasn't going to expose Thea to more hurt by encouraging her to force the issue but he would take a stab at it himself, Oliver decided. He sent an email to his assistant Jenna so that she'd get it first thing and asked her to reschedule his morning since he'd be in late. At 8:00 am the next morning, instead of heading to QC headquarters, he had Jake drive him to the homeless shelter where Thea had said she found Smoaky.

Five minutes inside revealed that she hadn't spent the night. The coordinator had been very sorry that they couldn't be of more help and Oliver had immediately reassured her that the work they did was help enough. To underscore the point, he wrote the shelter a check for $5000 and made a mental note to arrange for similar donations to all the shelters in Starling City.

"To the office now, sir?" Jake questioned when Oliver got back into the car.

"No," Oliver said. "Drop me off at the corner of 9th and Griffen."

Jake did as instructed and whatever he thoughts he had about Oliver dismissing him and planning to hail a cab to the office once he found the person he was looking for, he kept them to himself.

There was no sign of Smoaky anywhere near 9th and Griffen so Oliver walked the distance to the building Thea had told him was where she and Smoaky had first met. It was near to Detective Lance's precinct.

Success, Oliver thought, spotting the same backpack he'd seen her with before. He walked deeper into the little alley, frowning when he didn't actually see Smoaky. It wasn't until he turned around that he saw her crouched into a corner with a knife in her hand.

She relaxed when she recognized him.

"Why are you here?" she asked, straightening to her full height.

Still processing her defense tactics, Oliver didn't answer.

"I heard footsteps," Felicity explained tersely. "Heavy enough to be a man's so better to be safe."

The harsh reality of that statement brought Oliver back to his objective in seeking her out.

"I want to talk to you," Oliver said.

"I don't think there's anything to say," Felicity said.

Oliver looked her over. She was paler than the last time he'd seen her, she seemed a little shaky on her feet and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Are you high?" he asked suspiciously.

"No," Felicity snapped. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Are you sick?" Oliver asked.

"I haven't slept in three days," Felicity bit out. "If you came here to interrogate me, go away."

"That's not why I came," Oliver said, his tone softening. "I came to ask you to hear me out. There are a few things I want to say to you and all I ask is that you listen. What you do after is entirely up to you."

"Fine," Felicity said and Oliver got the distinct impression that she agreed simply because she thought it would be the fastest way to get rid of him.

She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and waited for him to say his piece.

"The whole time my mother was pregnant with Thea I tried to convince her that we didn't need a baby in the family," Oliver said. "That she could just send it back, same as how she sent back Christmas gifts she didn't like. I even told her that she could probably trade it in for something really cool like a new video game console for me."

Smoaky wasn't looking at him but Oliver could tell that he had her attention.

"Thea was born a little premature," Oliver said. "She was in the NICU for a while so I didn't get to see her until they brought her home from the hospital. And then the last thing anyone expected, including me, happened. I fell completely in love with her. From the minute I saw her, I was just _gone_."

He paused.

"I don't know what, if anything, Thea told you about our parents," Oliver said. "But they're busy people, have been for as long as I can remember. They weren't always around when, or in the ways, that Thea and I would have wanted."

She glanced at him then, meeting his eyes briefly.

"She told me about Raisa," Felicity said.

Oliver smiled.

"Yes, we had Raisa," he agreed. "And we had each other but what Thea and I really learned is that a blood relationship isn't the only thing that makes you family. Family is who you take care of and who you trust to take care of you and that's a choice you can make."

He took a step closer to her and ducked his head down so he could look into her eyes. Redness aside, he could see weariness and resignation there too. Giving into an impulse, Oliver took hold of her hand.

"Thea picked you," Oliver said simply. "She wanted you to be a part of her life and I know my sister. She doesn't invite people into her world on a whim even if it might seem like she does. She had a reason for opening that door to you. You might want to consider if that's not reason enough for you to step inside."

"It's not about me," Felicity said. "It's about Thea."

Oliver frowned and tilted his head in that way Felicity was coming to recognize even though she'd only met him twice.

"She was getting attached," Felicity said.

She gestured around them.

"My life is precarious," she said. "I could just as easily have been stabbed to death as sitting in that shelter yesterday and where would that leave her? Losing someone you said yourself she wanted to be part of her life. She's better off like this."

"That makes more sense," Oliver said, more to himself than to her. "You think you're protecting her."

He still had her hand held in his and since she hadn't made any move to pull away, Oliver gave it a squeeze.

"The loss you're trying to spare her is what she's feeling now," Oliver said gently. "You're not protecting _her_. You're protecting yourself."

He considered his next words carefully.

"Thea told me you lost a brother," Oliver said. "I'm really sorry that happened."

She tensed and tried to pull her hand away, to withdraw into herself, but Oliver refused to let go.

"If you spend the rest of your life afraid to get close to anyone," Oliver continued. "You're not just avoiding the bad times. You're denying yourself the good ones, too. I didn't know your brother but if he loved you as much as I love Thea, I can't imagine that's what he would want."

He let go of her hand and stepped back.

"I'm not saying that being friends with Thea is the answer," Oliver said. "I'm just saying that if you give her, or even me, a chance, we might be able to help you find whatever it is that can bring you a little happiness."

Felicity pressed her lips together and she felt herself shaking a little, probably from a combination of tiredness and emotional overload.

""If you decide that's something you want to do, come to my office," Oliver said. "Pretty easy to find since my name's on the building."

He gave her an encouraging smile.

"Just think about it," he said before walking away. "That's all I ask."

Felicity didn't want to think about it. She wanted to ignore everything he'd just said to her and keep her life exactly the way it was. She didn't have anything left to lose and that simple fact was what had allowed her to make it on the streets by herself after Diggle had died.

For two years now, it had been just her; there was no one for her to worry about and no one to worry about her. She wouldn't have survived this long any other way and at this point, if she could go back in time and leave that red leather purse where she found it, Felicity was pretty certain that was exactly what she would do.

Because if she had she wouldn't be at the mercy of the thoughts and feelings that were tearing her apart right now. The walls she'd built weren't just designed to keep other people out. They were there to keep her grounded in reality, to make sure that she never reached past them to things or people that might tempt her to forget what she'd learned from Adam's death and the break from her parents. Oliver placed the emphasis on what she was denying herself and he obviously felt that those so called good times were worth the risk of anything bad happening.

In Felicity's experience though, it wasn't true. The hundreds if not thousands of happy memories she had of Adam didn't make his loss easier to bear. They made it harder. And if she listened to Oliver, if she stepped through the door that Thea had opened, she had no doubt that she'd be setting herself up for more pain somewhere down the line. No sane person would do that, not when they knew better.

But she was tempted. Felicity allowed the thought to register in her mind and she didn't try to convince herself that it wasn't real. It was as real as the shock of Oliver's hand, large and warm, when he'd wrapped it around hers. It was the first time in years that someone had touched her with the intent of providing comfort or reassurance. For a brief moment, Felicity had remembered what it felt like to feel safe. The fact that he'd held on tighter when she'd tried to pull away after he mentioned Adam had amplified that feeling but it also confounded her.

She didn't understand why Oliver Queen would go out of his way to try to connect with her anymore than she understood why Thea had decided, after that first day, to keep bringing her coffee. They didn't know anything about her and they had no reason to think that she worth the time and effort they were spending to...

Felicity huffed out a breath.

She wasn't even sure what they were trying to do. Maybe this was all a rich person's savior complex, Felicity thought. Maybe they wanted to fix her or save her so they could feel better about themselves. Even as the thought crossed her mind, Felicity knew it didn't fit. Nothing about either of them had struck her as disingenuous and she was, despite everything, still a good judge of character.

Besides which, Felicity didn't need saving. If she wanted to build a life for herself off the streets, she could do it, probably with minimal effort. She knew what her IT skills were worth and she knew that she could easily falsify a background to explain away the years she'd been out of sight. She'd probably have herself a good job and all the trappings inside of a month.

But Oliver had talked about finding a little bit of happiness and Felicity knew the corporate world, working with technology that she still resented in all its forms, wouldn't bring her that.

So what else was there?

She closed her eyes and immediately Adam's face floated behind her eyelids and she felt the tears spring to the surface. She'd been fighting them on and off since her admission to Thea about why she'd taken the picture from her wallet.

She still missed him and that was something she rarely allowed herself to feel. She spent a great deal of time trying to block out all of her thoughts and feelings about him because of how much they still hurt but she wasn't always successful and now was one of those times.

She thought back to the day he had died. It was two days before she was supposed to go back to school and start her senior year. His organs had started failing and the doctors said there wasn't anything else they could do. _Start saying your goodbyes,_ was what they had said.

Felicity had refused. She'd refused to say good-bye as if he was just going on a trip and would be back in a few weeks or a month. She sat at his bedside but stayed stubborn and silent right up until he asked their parents to give them a moment alone.

He'd curled his fingers around her hand and he'd made the effort to smile even though she knew it cost him.

"_Just do me one favor," he'd wheezed. "Wear your name well, okay?"_

He hadn't needed to say more and Felicity had been sobbing too hard at that point to answer him.

He was gone three hours later and she hadn't let anyone call her by her first name since.

Letting out a deep breath in an effort to ease the constriction in her throat, Felicity thought about what Adam had been asking of her. He'd never been the type of brother who tried to make decisions for her. It was one of the reasons that it had grated on her nerves so much when her parents played the "Adam would have wanted" card.

The truth was that what he would have wanted for her was whatever she wanted for herself.

And if she could just figure out what that was, Felicity realized, she'd know what to do next.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm sorry I made y'all wait so long for this chapter. I wanted to focus on writing the last chapters of my other story Sunshine and Rain so that this story can have my full attention from now on.**

**I have to say that writing this continues to be a pleasure but also a challenge. Thank you all for your patience and support. I hope you enjoy!**

**Reviews are love.**

* * *

Felicity eyed the Queen Consolidated building warily. Six days had passed since Thea's brother had sought her out and Felicity had taken advantage of that time to actually get some sleep so that she could separate her physical exhaustion from its mental counterpart. With her body functioning at a more optimum level, it had been easier, if not actually less painful, for her to sort through her thoughts.

She'd also gone to a few more meetings. She'd listened to people talk about the losses that had led to their addictions but for the first time she'd truly paid attention to the stories about their recoveries; about the things and the people that drove their desire for rehabilitation and redemption. It seemed that even those who had suffered debilitating losses – one woman had spoken about the loss of her child in a car accident – were willing to put themselves out there again emotionally. They were willing to rely on friends and family. In fact, they seemed to be certain that recovery without those people wasn't truly possible.

Felicity had been forced to consider that maybe one of the reasons Adam's loss still felt so unmanageable, so crippling, was because she'd never truly talked about it and she'd never let anyone offer her any real comfort. It made her question whether or not things would have worked out differently with her parents if she hadn't shut them out of her grief, choosing the oblivion of drugs, alcohol and sex instead.

She supposed it was possible although she doubted it. The grief and bitterness had been too raw and intense immediately after Adam's death. Felicity felt certain that if she'd really opened the floodgates of her emotions then, she would never have recovered from it.

Everything was different now though and almost five years had gone by. If there was a time for her to do something – anything – to change, maybe even to heal, then this was it. She wasn't planning anything radical; Oliver had talked about taking a tiny step and honestly, that was as much as Felicity felt she could manage.

Slowly, she made her way up the steps of the building and hesitated. She could already see the security guard narrowing his eyes at her from behind his desk and didn't think that walking up to him and asking to see Oliver Queen was going to help matters.

"Plan B," Felicity muttered under her breath. She walked around the block and spotted a back entrance. There was a UPS deliveryman headed through the door. Picking up her pace, Felicity managed to catch the door before it closed behind him. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching her and also making sure the deliveryman had time to disappear to wherever he was going, Felicity slipped inside.

She found herself in a stairwell. There was a door on her level and peering through the window, she realized it was the mailroom. There was a flight of stairs going up and another flight going down. Deciding that if his name was on the building, his office would probably be on the top floor, she took the stairs that went up; up for 36 floors to be precise.

There was another flight up but the sign next to it indicated it led to the roof. She reached for the handle of the door only to realize there wasn't one. This floor, unlike the ones below it, was locked electronically.

Felicity bit back a curse as she stared at the keypad. It made sense that if this was where the executive offices were located there would be additional security but it was inconvenient and the way she saw it, she had two options. She could walk back down 36 flights of stairs and take her chances with the security guard or she could use her knife to disarm the system.

She had carefully avoided using her IT skills, relenting only the once after Diggle died. Her decision to take Oliver up on his offer was about taking a small step toward something unfamiliar. Faced with the choice she had to make now, Felicity understood that it was also about relaxing the restrictions she'd placed on herself.

Deciding that she needed to see it through, literally and metaphorically, Felicity pulled out her knife. It took her shockingly little time to deactivate the locking mechanism and push the door open. She looked right and left and found herself staring at two identical sets of glass doors. Shrugging, she walked through doors to her left. There was an older woman, with gray hair, sitting behind a desk. She looked up and did a double take when she saw Felicity.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her expression suggesting the exact opposite.

"I'm looking for Oliver," Felicity said. "Queen."

The woman's eyes widened.

"I think there may have been some mistake," the woman said. "Security didn't call up to clear you so…"

"If you're planning to push the panic button under your desk, I wouldn't bother," Felicity offered helpfully. "It's wired to the same power source as the lock on the door to the stairwell, which is…not working."

The woman gaped at her at the same time as a man emerged from the office behind her. He was tall, with salt and pepper hair and a stern expression.

"Who are you?' he asked Felicity.

"She said she was here to see Oliver," the older woman said. "I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding of some kind. I'm calling security right now, Mr. Queen."

This was Oliver and Thea's father, Felicity realized. She could see a passing resemblance to Oliver but none at all to Thea. Still, he looked every bit as imposing and stern as Thea had described. He was scrutinizing her and Felicity could feel the judgment and disdain like a physical thing in the air. If she were still susceptible to the opinions of other people, she might have wilted under the weight of it but she wasn't and so she didn't.

She stared back rather calmly.

"Smoaky?' Oliver said as he walked out of the same office the older man had come from.

"You know this person?" Robert asked.

Oliver's eyes flashed from Felicity to his father and back and he seemed to realize that he had about 10 seconds to come up with a plausible response. All things considered, Felicity thought he did well.

"She's an artist," Oliver said easily. "Laurel's looking at adding new inventory to the gift shop at the gallery and I thought Smoaky's work might be a good fit."

Robert shot his son an annoyed look.

"Try to take on your charity cases on your time and not mine," he snapped.

Oliver narrowed his eyes but he refrained from commenting. He gestured for Felicity to follow him.

"Why don't we have this conversation in my office?" he suggested.

Felicity followed him silently and they crossed the foyer to the other set of doors.

"I'm sorry about him," Oliver said, once they crossed the threshold. "My father's kind of an asshole to most people."

"I got that," Felicity said.

Oliver's lips twitched in a smile and he was clearly amused that she hadn't even bothered to disagree with him.

"Have a seat," Oliver said. "Can I get you some coffee? It'll just take me a minute to call Thea."

His words took Felicity's attention from the surroundings she'd been studying – the sleek, minimalist décor and the vastness of the office itself – to the reason she was there in the first place.

"Don't call Thea," she said.

Oliver looked startled.

"Isn't that why you're here?" he asked.

"Just tell her that she can meet me," Felicity began.

She shook her head. That wasn't right. This wasn't just about going back to how things had been. This was about making an effort to do things a little bit differently, to open her world even if it was only by a fraction.

"Tell her _I'd like_ for her to meet me," Felicity amended. "Same time, new place, tomorrow. At the church on East 7th."

Oliver studied her for a moment.

"I'll make sure she gets the message," he said.

"Thank you," Felicity said.

She let her eyes connect with his for a moment longer than was necessary to let him know she was thanking him for more than being the messenger.

He gave her a warm smile that made his eyes look especially bright.

"You're welcome," he said.

Felicity was almost out the door when he called out to her.

"Hey, Smoaky," he said. "We must need a bigger sign."

Felicity turned to face him but she didn't respond, her frown letting him know she had no idea what he was talking about.

"On the building," Oliver clarified. "Since it took you six days to find it."

Felicity smothered a snort and shook her head.

"You're not funny," she informed him before walking out.

She could hear his laughter behind her and his voice as he spoke to his assistant.

"You think I'm funny, don't you, Jenna?" he was saying. "I'm funny."

Felicity stepped into the elevator so she didn't hear whatever Jenna replied but she found herself smiling as she was whisked down. She had taken her one step today and provided that Thea showed up tomorrow, she would try to take another. She didn't want to look any further ahead than that.

She decided to spend the rest of the afternoon scouring for wood and by the time she decided to settle for the night, she'd collected a handful of usable pieces. They weren't necessarily much to look at but Felicity felt confident that she could transform them.

She liked carving because the idea of making something that didn't have an ulterior motive for existing appealed to her. Whatever animal she etched out from the wood, would simply be. Eventually, it might bring someone else pleasure to look at. When her wooden chest got to be too full, she'd take a few pieces out and leave them in random places around the city; on a front stoop or a windowsill, the seat of a bike parked on the sidewalk.

It was the complete opposite of working with technology where everything was designed for a purpose or a function and when it had flaws, it would fail. It would be less valuable. The imperfections were what could make a carving beautiful and that was something Felicity had come to appreciate. The juxtaposition was one of the reasons she'd insisted that Diggle teach her.

Her first attempts had been fairly catastrophic, resulting not only in unidentifiable lumps of wood but a number of injuries as well. Diggle had suggested more than once that she look for a different hobby but Felicity had been stubborn. She'd persisted until she got the hang of it and then she'd persisted some more until she was _good_ at it.

She still wasn't as good as Diggle had been but that was okay with her. She finished a fox and a turtle before deciding to let herself doze for a few hours. Sunrise wasn't that far off and it would take her at least thirty minutes to walk from where she was to the church where she'd asked for Thea to meet her.

Closing her eyes, Felicity let her mind drift and she wasn't too surprised to find that it drifted to how she was going to handle things if Thea did turn up. She had questions and she was sure Thea would too. Felicity wasn't sure how she would react to that primarily because she wasn't sure how ready she was to reveal more of her past.

She didn't feel mentally ready to dig into all those issues. It was one thing to recognize and accept that she hadn't processed her grief or its consequences in the best way. It was another thing entirely to actively deal with what that meant.

But she knew she wouldn't get away with being as tightlipped as she'd been before so it was about finding a balance that worked. It ended up being easier than she than she'd anticipated.

She was sitting on the steps of the church at 7:30, her backpack on the step below her. At almost exactly 7:45 she heard the familiar click clack of heels and she looked up. Thea stood in front of her, wrapped in bright red coat with two cups of coffee in her hand.

"You didn't have to bring coffee," Felicity offered by way of greeting.

"Of course I had to bring coffee," Thea said. "It was that or crack. And since I look awful in orange and they don't arrest you for intent to distribute coffee, I went with that."

She handed Felicity her coffee and then sat down next to her on the steps.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Felicity admitted.

"I was…surprised when Ollie said you came to see him," Thea said. "I wasn't expecting that after the way we left things."

She paused.

"What made you change your mind?" she asked.

Felicity gave her a blank look until she realized that Oliver must not have said anything to Thea about seeking her out and stating his case. Figuring that he had his reasons for that, Felicity didn't bring it up.

"I was thinking about my brother," Felicity confessed quietly. "I have a lot of unresolvedness where he's concerned."

She took a bracing sip of the hot coffee and then turned to look at Thea.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked.

"That was a question," Thea said with a small smile. "But go ahead."

"Why did you keep bringing me coffee?" Felicity asked. "After the first day, why?"

Thea blinked and Felicity could see her sorting through different answers before she finally settled on one.

"Something about you felt familiar," Thea finally said. "Not like we'd met before or I knew anything about you. More like something just clicked."

She ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't have that many friends," she said, the words falling past her lips, almost as if she hadn't really meant to say them. "I have people that I hang out with or party with, girls that I talk about clothes and make up and boys with but not that many friends."

She made a face.

"I mean, my brother is my best friend by far but he's also my brother," she said. "There's _his_ best friend, Tommy. But Tommy is, he's like the fun older cousin who teaches you the best ways to get in trouble and is genetically incapable of being serious. And I guess Sara is my closest girl friend. She's actually Laurel's little sister and I think we're friends mostly because we've known each other so long. We don't actually have that much in common."

She gave a wry smile.

"Not sure if any of this is answering your question…" she said.

"It is," Felicity said.

She took a deep breath.

"You remind me a lot of who I used to be," Felicity said.

"In your life before?" Thea questioned.

"Yes," Felicity said. "I used to talk as much as you, maybe more."

Thea's eyes rounded.

"Is that even possible?" she asked. "That someone could talk more than me, I mean. Not that you could talk more than you do because well, _anyone_ could talk more than you. Even the parrot that Ollie gave me for my eighth birthday."

Felicity choked out a laugh and then she sobered.

"After Adam died, a lot of things spiraled out of control," Felicity said. "The only way I could deal with it was to try and drown it out, keep it locked away and that meant keeping myself locked away from other people."

"After you told me you lost your brother," Thea said. "I thought about how I'd feel if I lost Ollie. Honestly, I can't even wrap my head around it."

"I hope you never have to," Felicity said. "And that's the reason, or part of it, that I said the things I said at the shelter. My track record dealing with loss is…not good. I also don't want to be the reason that anyone else experiences those feelings."

"You got scared," Thea said.

"I'm still scared," Felicity said. "And it's been a very long time since I tried to be anybody's friend. I might not be any good at it."

She gave Thea a small smile.

"But if the offer is still open," she said. "I'll take it."

"It's still open," Thea assured her.

"Okay," Felicity said. "Good."

"Cheers," Thea said, holding her coffee cup out.

Felicity clinked hers against it.

"So now that we're going to be friends," Thea said. "Is there any way I can talk you into taking off that hat?"

"What's the matter with my hat?" Felicity said.

"Nothing," Thea said. "I just want to see what's under it."

Felicity shook her head no and Thea sighed.

"It was worth a shot," she said.

"I met your dad," Felicity offered as a new topic.

"I heard," Thea said. "I'm so sorry. My dad is...complicated. And a snob."

"I imagine most people in his position would be," Felicity said.

Thea shrugged.

"I've never really been able to reconcile it," she said. "When it's just us, as a family, he's not awful. I mean he wasn't the most attentive father and he mostly made up for it by buying me stuff but he wasn't never around either. He took me to my first ballet, taught me how to ride a bike. He taught Ollie and Tommy how to fly fish"

"Parents are just people," Felicity said. "No better or worse than anyone else."

"You said you wished yours had left you alone more," Thea ventured. "How come?"

"I have unresolvedness when it comes to them too," Felicity said. "And I was mostly thinking about the bad times when I said that."

"Which implies there were good times," Thea said.

"There were," Felicity agreed.

Thea finished off her coffee.

"Tell me about them some time?" she asked.

"Yeah," Felicity said. "Some time."

Thea stood up.

"Off I go to the internship from hell," she said. "Same place same time tomorrow?"

"Same place, same time tomorrow," Felicity confirmed.

* * *

"Ugh," Thea proclaimed, throwing herself down next to Felicity.

A week had passed since they officially decided to become friends and Thea insisted that friends didn't only hang out in the morning. She'd convinced Felicity to meet her in the park at lunchtime instead.

"What's that face for?" Felicity asked, taking in Thea's expression.

"Laurel came to dinner last night," Thea said. "And she asked me if I'd be one of her bridesmaids."

"You don't want to?" Felicity asked.

"Like I have a choice," Thea said. "I know she only asked because it's expected and I only agreed because it's expected but I'm just..."

She threw her hands up in the air.

"I'm so frustrated by the whole thing," Thea exclaimed. "It feels wrong and off and I'm just...I can't actually do anything about it except nod and smile like it's all fine but it isn't and _argh_."

"Are you bothered by the fact that your brother is getting married or by the fact that he's getting married to her?" Felicity wanted to know.

"I'm not bothered that he's getting married," Thea said. "I mean, I know technically it changes things; he won't be living at home anymore and eventually they'll have kids or whatever but I know my brother. He's not going to let _life_ come between us. And it's kind of sweet how he's been going out of his way lately to do things for me. I mean he's going a little overboard spoiling me but at least I know its because he cares."

"So then it's Laurel," Felicity said.

Thea sighed.

"You know what the real problem is?" she said after a moment. "I'm sad. And I recognize that it's selfish of me but I always thought that I'd be really close to whoever Ollie married. I thought we'd be best friends and really excited to become sisters because..."

She blew out a breath.

"I wanted to love her as much as Ollie does," she said softly. "And I want to be as happy as he is but that's the thing. No matter what I do or what he says, I can't shake the feeling that he's not actually happy."

She reached for a bottle of ice tea from the paper bag she'd brought with her and handed it to Felicity before pulling out a second bottle for herself.

"I asked him a while ago if he was," Thea said. "He told me not to worry because he had everything he needed."

She gave Felicity a pointed look.

"Everything he needed," she repeated. "But not everything he wanted."

"Don't you think you're reading too much into it?" Felicity asked her. "No one is holding a gun to his head, right? If he's marrying her, it's because he wants to."

"Yes," Thea agreed. "But at the same time no. I mean obviously no one is forcing him into it but...it's like Ollie's got this whole life planned out based on what's acceptable and expected and now he's just going through the motions of it. He's doing well at work and he'll be married at 30 and I bet you my trust fund Laurel will be pregnant inside the first two years of their marriage. It's all so scripted."

"Predictability is comforting for some people," Felicity said.

Thea shrugged.

"Like I said," she said. "It just feels wrong to me."

"Maybe you should spend more time with Laurel," Felicity said.

"What good would that do?" Thea asked skeptically.

"Maybe if you make an effort to get closer to her, get to know her more, you'll understand what your brother sees in her," Felicity said. "It might make you feel better about things."

"I'll think about it," Thea said. "Let's talk about something else. Also, eat."

She handed Felicity a grilled cheese sandwich.

"I actually wanted to ask you for a favor," she said.

"Not the hat again," Felicity interjected.

Thea had been trying to talk her out of her hat on a daily basis.

"No," Thea said. "Although, you should just give in already because I will keep bugging you."

She took a bite of her own sandwich.

"Ollie's birthday is coming up," Thea said. "Predictably, he's impossible to shop for. And then I had the genius idea of asking you to carve him something."

Felicity blinked in surprise.

"You want to give him one of my carvings as a birthday present?" she asked.

"He'd love it," Thea said. "I know he would. And I'll know it's something no one else can get him. So will you?"

"I...sure," Felicity said, her mind's eye immediately conjuring up that piece of butternut wood she had yet carve. "How's he feel about bears?"

"A bear would be perfect," Thea said. "Wait, I don't remember telling you about that."

"About what?" Felicity asked.

"Raisa's nickname for Ollie," Thea said. "It's Russian but basically translates to "little bear".

"You didn't," Felicity said. "It just seemed like a good fit is all."

"You're weirdly good at reading people, you know that?" Thea said. "You've met Ollie what, twice?"

"Yeah," Felicity said.

"What did you guys talk about that day, anyway?" Thea asked. "The day I got kidnapped for the sake of my mother's social life."

"You, mostly," Felicity said.

"Aww!" Thea said. "You bonded over how awesome I am? That's cute."

Felicity snorted.

"I think that's overstating things," she said wryly.

"Is that your way of trying to keep my ego in check?" Thea teased.

"Would it work?" Felicity retorted.

"Yeah, probably not," Thea said. "Okay, now you have two choices."

She finished her sandwich.

"You can take off that hat already." Thea said. "Or you can agree to come out with me and Roy this weekend. We're going to Jeffers island."

She grinned.

"Warning you though," she said. "If you come with me and Roy there will be mandatory roller coaster riding, sugar overdosing and possibly a stuffed animal or a gold fish."

"I think I can handle that," Felicity said.

Thea clapped her hands together gleefully.

"Okay, now about the hat," she said.

"Thea," Felicity warned.

"You don't have to take it off," Thea said. "Just tell me what the big deal is. I mean, not to be insensitive but it is like some kind of scar? Or is there a rat controlling you like in that Dreamworks movie?"

Felicity rolled her eyes; a gesture of exasperation that she hadn't indulged in in years.

"I have a lot of hair, okay?" she said. "The hat keeps it out of my way."

"That's it?" Thea asked.

"You were expecting something more dramatic?" Felicity asked.

"Of course I was!" Thea said. "The way you were..."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You were just messing with me," she accused. "Waiting to see how long I'd be able to stand the curiosity and what kind of crazy things I would imagine."

""The scar was a decent guess," Felicity said. "You lost me with the rat though."

"You never saw that movie? Ratatouille?" Thea asked. "I was completely obsessed with it. I tried to talk Raisa into letting me adopt a rat because of that movie."

"I've mentioned about you being crazy, right?" Felicity said.

Thea ignored her.

"One day, in the future, when I talk you into coming over to my house for a sleepover, we're totally watching it," Thea said.

"Those are some big plans you have there," Felicity commented.

Thea's expression turned serious.

"I'm not pushing," she said earnestly. ""If we get there we get there and if we don't we'll go somewhere else."

Thea's phone beeped and she grimaced.

"I have to get back," she said. "Coffee tomorrow?"

"Coffee's good," Felicity agreed.

"Can I pick the place?" Thea asked.

"As long as they don't make the fancy vanilla stuff," Felicity said.

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" Thea asked.

"No," Felicity said.

"You know the entrance to the botanical garden on Pine?" Thea asked.

Felicity nodded.

"Let's meet there," Thea said.

"Okay," Felicity said.

"Stay safe, Smoaky," Thea said with a small wave.

Tossing the remnants of their lunch into the trash, she headed for the sidewalk. She started to hail a cab but then decided to walk instead, It was a beautiful afternoon and she wasn't all that excited about going back to work so who cared if she was a little late?

Apparently her supervisor, Thea thought sourly, several hours later. The dragon lady who worked for her mother's friend Daniel, had piled about 100 files on Thea's desk as soon as she got back, asking her to read them all and highlight any mention of some man named Nick Salvati.

Pushing the files away, Thea reached for her phone and called Roy.

"Where are you?" she asked him. "Close by my office?"

"Not really," he said. "Need me to rescue you?"

"Yes," Thea said. "Or just give me something sharp and pointy. Then I can rescue myself."

Roy laughed softly and Thea felt something warm and calming settle over her. It was odd how much Roy seemed to steady her. Ostensibly, she was the one who should have been a good and stable influence on him, what with him being the one with the criminal record.

"I can meet you," Roy said. "I'll bring Skittles."

"A man after my own heart," Thea said. "In an hour?"

"I'll be there," Roy said.

Thea hung up feeling considerably more optimistic and less murderous and she returned Dragon Lady's glare with a bright smile when she made her way out of the building at exactly five o'clock.

Roy was waiting at the foot of the steps, wearing his red hoodie. He held his hand out as soon as he saw her and Thea slipped hers into it.

"Hi," she said.

He bent to kiss her.

"Hey," he said, dropping another kiss on her nose. "So how horrible was your day?"

Thea gave a dramatic sigh.

"I really hate this gig," she said.

"You could quit," Roy reminded her. "You _should_ quit. Focus on what you actually love doing. I don't know anything about fancy clothes but your sketches are great."

"You have to say that," Thea said, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked.

"I'm saying it because it's true," Roy countered. "You don't even have to tell your family. Just send them out to a couple of...well to whoever stuff like that goes to."

"Designers," Thea supplied. "Maybe a few fashion editors. And yeah, I could but then it'll be a thing because of who I am."

"So do it anonymously," Roy said. "You can set up a PO box or something."

Thea bit her lip.

Her sketches, her secret dream of being a fashion designer, that was something she'd never shared with anyone until Roy.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Roy pointed out. "If they don't like your work they're idiots and if they do, you might find a door to doing something that actually excites you."

"Maybe," Thea said. "I'll think about it. Now where are my Skittles?"

Roy rolled his eyes.

"You're a sugar fiend," he said.

"Speaking of which," Thea said, ripping open the bag of candy. "Smoaky is going to come with us this weekend. I'm excited for you to meet her."

"All part of your master plan to lure her into your life?" Roy teased.

"I don't need to lure," Thea said loftily. "She took the first step this time, remember? Which means it's not just me anymore. We're both invested."

"I'm happy its working out," Roy said.

"She told me I should spend time with Laurel," Thea said.

"You don't like Laurel," Roy said.

"I never said that," Thea protested.

"Doesn't mean that's not what you meant," Roy retorted.

Thea sighed.

"I want to like her," she said. "I guess I feel like I don't really know her that well."

"Then I guess you need to decide if that's something you want to change," Roy told her.

"I don't think you brought enough candy for that," Thea said.

"Come on," Roy said. "I'll buy you a slice and some orange soda."

Thea laughed.

"Gonna give me a quarter to play video games too?" she teased.

"Not making that mistake twice," Roy said.

"Sore loser," Thea said. "Besides, I kissed your wounded pride all better, didn't I?"

"On second thought," Roy said. "You can have _two_ quarters."

* * *

Oliver walked into Laurel's apartment and was greeted with the smell of something warm and homey floating from the kitchen. Dropping his briefcase on the floor, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and slung it over the back of the couch as he followed the sound of Laurel cooking.

"Hey," he said, sliding an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek.

"Hey," she said back.

"How was your day?" Oliver asked, leaning against the counter.

"Good," Laurel said. "We started hanging the show today. Are you going to be able to make it to the opening this weekend?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Oliver said.

Laurel paused in her chopping of the vegetables in front of her.

"You look exhausted," she observed.

"I _am_ exhausted," Oliver said. "Things are even busier than I thought they would be and it takes a toll. I'm constantly having to stand my ground with Robert and prove to everyone around me that I'm qualified for the job I'm doing and not just because my last name is Queen."

He rubbed his hands over his face.

"Some days I really do think about what life would be like if I walked away from it," he said.

"And what would it be like?" Laurel questioned.

"Less exhausting," Oliver replied.

"You'd be bored," Laurel predicted. "I know you get frustrated sometimes but its only because you're being challenged and that's what keeps you engaged, keeps you focused."

"Maybe," Oliver said, not really wanting to discuss it further. He'd had this conversation with Laurel before and it usually just led to an argument. The intensity of corporate life was something that Laurel had thrived on and Oliver knew that she missed it, even though it had been her choice to give it up.

She didn't understand why he didn't always feel the same way.

"I'm going to grab a shower," Oliver said.

He took his time, standing under the hot spray for long minutes to ease some of the tension in his body. Once he'd changed into jeans and a V-neck shirt, he padded barefoot back towards the kitchen.

Laurel had a beer open on the counter, waiting for him.

"So Thea called me earlier," she announced.

Oliver frowned.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"She called to find out if I wanted to have lunch with her this week," Laurel said.

"Oh," Oliver said. "That was nice of her."

"You sound surprised," Laurel said.

"I am a little bit," Oliver said.

"I thought you might have put her up to it," Laurel admitted, tossing the salad and passing it to Oliver to put on the table.

Something in her voice caught Oliver's attention and he studied her a few seconds before answering.

"Should I have?" he asked.

"No," Laurel denied.

She opened the oven to pull out the roasted chicken.

"I know what I said the other day," she said. "How us being married was going to be an adjustment for you and Thea but honestly, it's going to be an adjustment for me too."

She carried the chicken to the dining table and set it down before she turned to face him.

"Once we're married we're officially a team for better and for worse," Laurel said, taking off the oven mitts and tossing them onto the counter. "It's going to be 'The Queens' or 'Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Queen' or even just 'Laurel and Oliver'."

"Okay," Oliver said slowly, not entirely sure where she was going with all this. "That is kind of the point of being married though, isn't it?"

Laurel rolled her eyes.

"You and Thea are a team too, is all I'm trying to say," she said. "One that I'm not part of and don't know how to fit into. If I'm even supposed to fit into it."

"You're right," Oliver said. "Thea and I rely on each other in a way that you and Sara don't so I know that's different for you. But you don't need to fit into anything. You're already there. You're as big a part of my life as Thea is and that makes you a part of her life too."

"I know it does in theory," Laurel said.

"I think Thea had the right idea, inviting you to lunch," Oliver said. "It's a good idea for you two to have a relationship outside of me."

"You think I'll do better with your sister than I have with mine?" Laurel asked, stepping into his arms.

"Well my sister's a lot more loveable," Oliver teased, hugging her. "So yeah, probably."

"Jerk," Laurel said, elbowing him in the stomach. "Dinner's ready."

Conversation over dinner revolved around wedding details with Laurel bringing him up to speed on site visits and menu options and paper samples. By the time Oliver had finished with the dishes and dropped onto the couch, he felt the beginnings of a headache throbbing behind his eyes.

The fact that he had several reports to review before even contemplating sleep didn't help. Glancing at his watch, he picked up his phone and texted Thea to thank her for reaching out to Laurel. Her response took him aback.

_Thank Smoaky. It was her idea._

Oliver wasn't sure what to make of that. Firstly, it implied Thea talking to Smoaky about Laurel. Which meant they probably also talked about him and his relationship with Laurel. He was oddly uncomfortable with the notion.

For some reason, he'd been so focused on getting Smoaky to open up to Thea that he hadn't actually considered what it would mean once they were friends. Smoaky wasn't like the girls that Thea hung out with from school; Oliver knew Thea would never confide anything serious about her family life to those girls. It was the nature of the social circle they moved in. Everything was casual and superficial and substance was an anomaly.

Smoaky was completely removed from all that and the weight of the issues that she herself carried meant that by default her relationship with Thea was based on their ability or willingness to talk about things that were messy and complicated but real.

And then there was the even more important detail. If Smoaky had suggested it, she'd obviously done so as a solution to a problem. The problem part of that equation was what worried him. Until now, Oliver hadn't given any particular thought to the relationship between his fiancée and his sister. They'd all known each other so long he hadn't thought there was a need to.

He knew they weren't super close but he hadn't realized that Laurel felt tangibly left out and he hadn't realized Thea had issues with Laurel one way or the other. She'd never said anything that led him to believe that she didn't like Laurel, or that she didn't approve of the engagement. Now that he thought about it, that alone should have tipped him off. Thea always had an opinion or something to say.

Oliver closed his eyes, knowing he was going to have to talk to her about it but not looking forward to it. He got up off the couch and went to grab two painkillers from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. He downed them with water from the tap and braced his hands on the sink.

He felt like things were starting to pile up on him a little too much. It wasn't the first time but he'd always been able to reel himself back in and get a grip on things.

He looked up at his reflection in the mirror and wondered how many more times he could teeter on the brink of this particular cliff before he fell off of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: ****I know this has been a long time coming so for those of you still out there and interested, thank you all for your patience. I mentioned in the my notes on the last chapter of Sunshine and Rain that this story poses a particular challenge when it comes to how fast I can update because a) my writing time is limited (been very hectic at work lately) and b) because of how much time we spend in Felicity's head and to a lesser extent Oliver's and Thea's, there's comparatively little dialogue. Since dialogue is usually what flows fastest, you can see the conundrum.**

**That said, I'm trying my best to write farther ahead so that I can start to update on a more regular basis. Bear with me, please! And in the meantime, enjoy this!**

**Reviews are love.**

* * *

She was having fun.

It felt strange because of how used she was to carrying the weight of her solitude, to being in her own head 95 percent of the time, but it also felt right.

They'd arrived at Jeffers island several hours ago after meeting up at Roy's house. Thea had driven them in a gray SUV and both Roy and Felicity had ignored her attempt to pay for all of their tickets. Since Felicity didn't really spend the money that she earned as Detective Lance's CI, save on the occasional cup of coffee or basic necessities she had it to spare. She wasn't sure what Roy's excuse was although she suspected he protested mostly to get a rise out of Thea and kiss her when she pouted.

It was easy to see why Thea had fallen for him despite the improbable start to their relationship, Felicity thought. He was attractive but more importantly, he was easy going and it was clear to see that he adored Thea unconditionally. He'd also gone out of his way to make Felicity feel comfortable and not at all like a third wheel. He teased her about her hat and had challenged her to a couple games, feigning total devastation when she beat him.

"Smoaky, come on," Thea said, dragging her towards a photo booth. "We need to immortalize the moment."

Felicity didn't have time to protest before Thea pulled her into the booth.

"You have to make funny faces," Thea instructed her. "It's the principle of the thing."

Felicity frowned and Thea rolled her eyes.

"A frown is not a funny face," she said. "Now be serious."

"I thought you wanted me to be funny," Felicity countered.

"Just...cross your eyes or something," Thea said, exasperatedly.

In the end eyes were crossed, tongues were stuck out and there was a not so faux fight over possession of Felicity's hat. The machine spit out the pictures moments later and Thea tore the strip in half.

"One for me and one for you," she said happily.

Felicity felt a small smile curve her lips as she glanced at the pictures before tucking them into her back pocket.

"Time for funnel cake," Thea announced.

They picked up one huge one to share and settled at a picnic table.

"If you think I'm sitting next to you on any roller coaster with the amount of food you've eaten," Roy warned Thea.

"Lightweight," Thea accused. "Ollie and I went to Six Flags once, stuffed ourselves to the gills and then got on the biggest, twistiest roller coaster they had."

"And you didn't throw up?" Felicity asked.

"Of course we did," Thea said. "But not until we were already half way home."

She smiled.

"That was a good day," she said.

"It was just the two of you?" Roy asked.

Thea shook her head.

"Raisa took us, with her sister and her nieces," she said. "It was actually hilarious because the youngest niece was four and she was completely in love with Ollie. Cried every time she was more than five feet away from him. He started calling her Speedy 2.0 cause he said that was exactly how I acted at that age."

She bit into another piece of funnel cake.

"Enough of my family, what about you two?" she asked. "Surely, you have one family memory you're willing to share with the class?"

She said it lightly but Felicity could still sense the apprehension.

"Honestly, my childhood pretty much sucked," Roy said. "But I remember playing some wicked pranks in school."

"Like?" Thea prodded.

"I snuck into the cafeteria and put a ton of fake spiders into the gravy once," Roy said. "It was pandemonium."

"Did you get caught?" Thea asked.

"No way," he said with a wink. "I was as slick then as I am now."

"Oh please," Thea said. "Your moves are not as smooth as you think."

"They worked on you, didn't they?" Roy said.

Thea threw a piece of funnel cake at him, which he caught with his mouth.

"Thanks, babe," he grinned. "Love you too."

Thea shook her head and then turned to look at Felicity with a mixture of hope and hesitation in her eyes.

Moments spent with Adam flashed through her mind but she didn't feel quite ready to revisit them. Seizing on Roy's school theme, she offered something else.

"I had a really obnoxious biology teacher in middle school," Felicity said. "He liked to put students on the spot and embarrass them so to get even I photo shopped a picture of him so it looked like he was dressed in drag and I emailed it anonymously to all the students, staff and parents."

Thea clapped a hand over her mouth and giggled.

"That's bad ass," Roy said, mirth dancing in his eyes.

"Did you get caught?" Thea asked.

"No and I've never told a soul," Felicity said. "I felt a little bad. He quit a few weeks later. But then I found out that he met his wife at the next school he taught at so I guess I did him a favor."

"Maybe we should start calling you Cupid instead of Smoaky," Thea teased.

"No," Felicity said, shaking her head. "You shouldn't."

"I don't know," Roy said. "Get you an arrow and some fuzzy hearts to go on your hat..."

"Or straight up red leather," Thea said. "You'd look hot."

"I see now why you two make such a good couple," Felicity said. "You feed off each other's insanity."

Thea and Roy both laughed and after throwing away their trash, the three of them continued wandering through the amusement park.

"I want a stuffed animal," Thea announced.

She grinned at Roy.

"You going to win me one?" she asked.

"I could," Roy said. "But what are you going to win me?"

"I'll give you my heart for free," Thea said, batting her eyelashes at him. "Asking for more would just be selfish."

Roy guffawed but he stole a kiss before going off to try his luck with a hammer themed game. Thea linked her arm through Felicity's.

"I'm glad you came today," Thea said.

"Me too," Felicity said.

"Yeah?" Thea asked.

"It's reminded me what the good times can feel like," Felicity said.

"Mission accomplished then," Thea said.

Her eyes widened as she saw Roy approaching with a stuffed lion that was almost as big as he was.

"Oh my god," she said, laughing. "Is that thing even going to fit in the car with us?"

"You're the one who said you wanted it," Roy said.

Thea reached out for the oversized toy.

"My hero," she said.

"Me or the lion?" Roy asked.

"The lion, obviously," Thea said.

She kissed Roy on the cheek.

"I guess you're pretty okay, too," she said.

"I feel underappreciated," Roy complained.

"I'll appreciate you later," Thea promised.

Felicity merely shook her head at their antics and before she knew it the sky had started to darken and it was time to head back into Starling City.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?" Thea asked Felicity.

"The north side of the park is fine," Felicity said.

"You're welcome to crash at my place," Roy offered. "I know it's not much, but it's a roof."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Felicity said.

"That's Smoaky speak for thanks but no thanks," Thea offered. "Don't take it personally though. She refused to stay with me too and at least she didn't laugh at you."

"I didn't laugh at you either," Felicity said.

"No, you're right," Thea said. "You made that disbelieving snort sound as if it was the most ludicrous idea in the world."

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a tendency to overdramatize?" Felicity said.

"Only on like, a daily basis," Thea said.

She turned the corner and eased the car to a stop at the north entrance to Starling Park.

"Coffee tomorrow afternoon?" she asked.

"Sure," Felicity said. "Time and place?"

"3-ish," Thea said. "At the gardens again."

Felicity nodded and pushed open the car door. Once she climbed out, she pulled her backpack from the backseat and hauled it over her shoulders.

"See you around, Smoaky," Roy said.

"Yeah," Felicity agreed.

"Be safe," Thea added.

Felicity nodded and closed the car door.

"You okay?" Roy asked, placing his hand on Thea's thigh as they watched Smoaky walk down the street.

"I know she can take care of herself," Thea said. "She's been doing it all this time before I even knew she existed. I just hate the part where she walks away or I do, and I can't be sure, you know?"

She swallowed hard.

"Every time we meet up," Thea said. "The first thing I feel when I see her is relief; relief that she made it through another day or another night, without anything bad happening. And actually, you know what I hate the most? The fact that I have, or well my family has, all this money and we have houses and property all over the freaking world and none of that makes any difference when it comes to Smoaky because she won't let it or doesn't want it to or…"

"Thea," Roy said, turning her to face him and rubbing his thumb over her cheek.

"I feel helpless," Thea admitted. "Have I mentioned that I hate it?"

"You're not helpless," Roy said. "You're amazing. And you care more for someone that you're still getting to know than some people care about their own flesh and blood."

"I think that's more of a reflection of how many awful people are out there," Thea said.

Roy shook his head.

"I don't know the whole story with Smoaky," he said. "But I know that she pushed you away before and today, I saw her trying to let you in. That's you having a positive impact on someone else's life, Thea. There's nothing helpless about it."

Thea smiled at him.

"What did I used to do without you?" she asked him.

"I don't like to think about it," Roy said, before closing the distance between them to kiss her. Thea sighed into it for a moment before pulling away.

"We should drive," she said. "Your place or mine?"

"Yours," Roy said. "I don't want you driving home alone from my neighborhood at night."

"Right," Thea said. "Because I'm so in love with the idea of you finding your own way back to that same neighborhood without any protection at all. And so help me if you say you can take care of yourself I'm going to hit you and it's going to hurt."

Roy held up his hands.

"I'm not saying a word," he said.

"The least you could do is spend the night in the carriage house," Thea told him.

"What the hell is a carriage house?" Roy asked.

"I'll show you," Thea said.

It took them about forty minutes to get to the Queen's property but instead of turning toward the manor itself, Thea drove around on a separate path that circled to the backside of the estate. Five minutes later, she parked the car in front of a mid sized two-story building.

"Way back when they built houses for the horse drawn carriages," Thea explained. "They'd keep the carriages and all the horse tack in here. The second story had living quarters for the staff that took care of the carriages and the horses."

"You're serious?" Roy said.

"Completely," Thea said. "Now it's basically a guest house. Although I'm pretty sure in his wilder days Ollie brought a ton of girls here."

She bent down and pulled the spare key from under a flowerpot and opened the door. Roy followed her inside, watching as she flipped on a couple of lights and then made her way into a kitchen.

"Raisa usually keeps this placed stocked with the essentials," Thea said. "But it's been a while since we had anyone stay here so no guarantees."

In the end, they found bottled water, an assortment of juices and soda, some microwave popcorn, pretzels and a box of truffles. Taking the entire haul into the study, they pulled out the sofa bed (well Roy pulled and Thea gave instructions) and sprawled across it with the TV on in the background.

The spent the next several hours curled up together, cuddling and kissing more than paying attention to the TV or snacking. It was half past midnight, when Thea groaned and sat up straight.

"I need to put in an appearance at the main house," she said. "If I make enough noise to let them know I'm home, they won't come looking for me first thing in the morning."

She dropped a quick kiss on his mouth.

"I'll sneak back out on foot though," she said. "Gimme 30 minutes tops?"

Roy nodded and Thea hopped off the sofa bed. She drove back the way they'd come so she could take the main driveway up to the house and park in the garage that was just off of it. Walking through the front door, she closed it a little more loudly than necessary and started to head for the stairs.

She was surprised to hear Oliver call out to her.

"You're home late," he observed, stepping into the foyer from the living room.

"Waiting up for me, Ollie?" Thea teased him lightly.

"Actually yeah," Oliver said. "Can we talk?"

"It's late," Thea pointed out.

"I know," Oliver said. "But I'd rather just get it out of the way."

Thea frowned.

"What's the matter?" she asked,

Oliver nodded toward the living room and Thea followed him. He sat down on the Louis XVI and Thea dropped to the floor to sit cross-legged at his feet.

"So about Laurel," Oliver began.

"Oh," Thea said.

Oliver looked down at her.

"I didn't realize this thing with the two of you _was_ a thing until the other day," he said. "And I'm kind of wondering why you never mentioned it."

"There wasn't anything to say," Thea said. "There still isn't. You love her, you're marrying her and that's a good thing if it's what you want. My issues are my problem."

"Humor me," Oliver said. "What exactly are your issues? I thought you liked Laurel."

"I think what I realized, the whole reason I invited her out yesterday, is that I don't know her enough to like or not like her," Thea said. "I know she's been around for ages but we've never really spent any time together. Until yesterday, I didn't know anything about her interests or opinions outside of her work and you."

"And now that you do?" Oliver asked.

Thea shrugged.

"How honest do you want me to be right now?" she asked.

"Completely honest," Oliver said. "You and I don't lie to each other. Ever."

"I think she might not be the most relaxed person in the world, she not might find it easy to relate to everyone but she's a good person and she means well," Thea said. "I think she loves you and is excited to marry you. I think if you marry her, you'll have exactly the kind of life you say you want."

She stood up and took a deep breath.

"I'm just not sure it will make you happy," Thea said.

"Okay," Oliver said slowly. "This isn't the first time you've brought it up about me being happy or what's going to make me happy. So I think the question is why are you so convinced that I'm unhappy?"

"Maybe it's because I'm young and my idea of what happiness means is a bit more idealistic than yours," Thea allowed. "When I think of being happy, I think of feeling excited and optimistic and like the world is full of possibilities that I haven't found yet. When I think of being happy _with_ someone, I think of someone who surprises me and challenges me and helps me see the same things in a new way and lets me do all of that for them."

She searched his face with her eyes.

"Does Laurel do any of that for you?" she asked.

Oliver sighed and patted the seat next to him. Thea sat down and pulled her legs underneath her.

"There's no exact formula for being happy or for being in love," he said. "You associate being happy with feeling free and adventurous because that's who you are. You're exuberant and curious and you devour life. It's been that way since you were a kid."

"But it's different for you?" Thea questioned.

"It is different," Oliver said. "For a lot of reasons. But what you need to understand is that there may be things I would change about my life if I could; things at work, the relationship I have with Dad. But what I have with Laurel is everything I want it to be. She's someone I can rely on, someone I can _lean_ on when I need to and Thea, you have no idea how important that is right now and how much more important it's going to be when literally the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and their families will be affected by decisions that I make."

"When you're in charge of QC," Thea said.

Oliver nodded.

"Laurel is good for me," he said. "She's good _to _me and I do love her. I'm marrying her because I want her with me for all the things that come next in my life."

Thea absorbed that. She could hear the conviction in his words and knew that Oliver believed everything he was telling her. Maybe Smoaky was right and she'd been reading too much into things, projecting her own ideas of what a relationship should be onto a set of circumstances that were completely opposite to her own.

As close as she and Oliver were, their lives were very different. He was the son and heir and he'd been raised with a whole host of expectations and responsibilities that she'd never had to deal with. They didn't see the world in the same way because in a lot of ways, their worlds weren't the same.

"I love you," Thea said. "If you have what you want then that's all _I_ want."

Oliver gave her a small smile.

"Love you too, Speedy," he said, holding his arms out.

Thea let herself be drawn into a hug and she rested her head briefly on Oliver's shoulder.

"I'm always going to be here for you, you know that right?" Oliver asked. "Me getting married doesn't change that. If you need me, just say the word."

"I know," Thea said, pulling away.

She gave him a small smile and a kiss on the cheek before getting to her feet.

"Speedy, there's one other thing," Oliver said. "About Smoaky."

"What about her?" Thea asked curiously.

"You talk to her about me," Oliver said.

Thea laughed.

"Worried I'm going to spill your deepest darkest secrets?" she asked.

Oliver shifted uncomfortably.

"It's not that," he said. "I just want you to be careful. At the end of the day, we're still talking about someone that you know very little about."

"You have to give trust to get trust," Thea said. "I talk to Smoaky about a lot of things because how else I can I expect her to open up to me? If I won't open up to her, you know?"

She placed a reassuring hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Maybe you're right and it is a risk," Thea said. "But I'm going with my gut on this one."

She grinned at him.

"If it makes you feel better, I promise not to tell her about that one time when you and Tommy rented out a stadium so you could get naked with some cheerleaders," Thea said.

"You," Oliver said. "Are not supposed to know anything about that."

"Right," Thea said, rolling her eyes. "Like that kind of thing stays secret. I've had _teachers_ ask me about some the stunts that you and Tommy pulled."

Oliver shook his head but there was a small smile playing on his lips.

"Where is Tommy anyway?" Thea asked. "When's he coming back?"

"Not sure," Oliver said. "Last I heard from him he was in Bali and getting ready to head to Prague."

"Good life if you can get it," Thea said.

Oliver's expression sobered and he stood up.

"Don't be fooled by everything you see," he said. "Sometimes the people having the most fun are the ones hiding the most pain."

He kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Speedy," he said.

"Good night," Thea said.

* * *

Felicity stared at the piece of butternut wood in her hands. She ran her thumb over it, back and forth in an idle pattern. She'd been holding onto this piece of wood for a while and it struck her as odd that it had immediately come to mind when Thea had asked her to carve something for Oliver.

Generally, she always decided what to carve based on the wood, what it inspired her to create. This was the first time that it had worked the other way around. As soon as Thea had made the request, Felicity had seen the finished carving in her mind's eye; a bear made from the golden hued butternut wood, the lines of its body taut and its expression undecided, as if it was as likely to fall into the peace of a deep sleep as it was to lash out to protect itself.

It was, Felicity realized, a reflection of all that she'd determined about Oliver Queen through their three brief interactions. She supposed that hearing Thea talk about him so much had also informed her perception of him but this felt more visceral than that.

There was light in him. She'd seen that in his eyes when he smiled and heard it in his laughter. Despite what Thea thought about his being happy or not, Felicity got the feeling that he knew what it meant to enjoy life, to take full advantage of a moment. But she also sensed an underlying tension in him. It was buried deep but it was there. She didn't know what caused it, didn't suppose she'd ever know and so she hadn't spent much time thinking about it.

In all honesty, she hadn't spent much time thinking about him as anything other than Thea's brother. And more often than not thoughts of Oliver and Thea's relationship made her think of her relationship with Adam. She found herself asking questions that she'd never allowed herself to entertain before. What if Adam hadn't died? What if he'd never gotten cancer? Would they have had normal, happy lives, oblivious to tragedy? Or would something else have happened? Something equally devastating that would have splintered her world and sent her down the same rabbit holes, just for a different reason?

Felicity sighed and took out her tools. She sharpened her knife and then started to carve. Wondering about those things was a luxury she couldn't afford. It didn't do anything to help her find peace in the present and it wouldn't give her any answers about what direction to go into next.

One day, one step, at a time, Felicity reminded herself. Going to the amusement park with Roy and Thea today was a big deal. Enjoying herself, genuinely, for the first time in longer than she could remember, was a bigger deal. It was progress and she should be proud of herself for it.

There were still a lot of things that she wasn't ready to say, to Thea or to anyone else, but little bit by little bit, it was getting easier and that was something of minor miracle. Losing Adam had destroyed her but losing Diggle was what had convinced her that there was no point in trying to salvage anything from the rubble; that any effort to find something else good in the world would simply lead to getting crushed all over again. For two years, she'd held tight to that, isolating herself in every way that she could think of. Then Thea had happened and Felicity found herself taking a risk that she'd never thought she would take again.

And it was different than it had been with Diggle. As close as she'd gotten to John, it had all started with the instinct to survive. He'd chosen to take her under his wing, to protect her and teach her and Felicity had let him because she was terrified of what might become of her otherwise.

She may have been relieved and defiant when her parents kicked her out but she'd been young too; barely 20 and with no sense until that moment of what it would feel like to be completely alone in the world.

Now the circumstances were turned around and having someone to care about and who cared about her was what felt unfamiliar. Felicity didn't know if she'd be able to get used to it.

Closing her eyes, Felicity took a moment to clear her mind and focus solely on the wood and the knife. The constant spin of thoughts and emotions would still be there later. For now, she wanted the calm that came along with concentrating on her craft.

She worked more slowly than usual, taking extra time with the details and aware that the margin for error was minimal because of how little wood she had to work with. By the time the sun had risen, she was almost done so she let herself rest, deciding to put the finishing touches on it later.

She slept for a good few hours before she gathered her things and got on with her day. She made a pit stop in the nearest fast food joint before walking to the next shelter on her amended list (she'd taken all the shelters that Thea and Oliver had visited on their search for her out of play for a while) in order to shower, get something to eat, and deal with her laundry. By the time she finished, it was early afternoon.

She still had a few hours before she was meant to meet Thea but Felicity decided to head for the gardens anyway. She would finish the bear carving and maybe start working on something else.

She was settled in the same spot they'd met in the last time, working on an eagle when Thea arrived. She sank down gracefully next to Felicity and handed over one of the two coffees she was carrying.

"You look sleepy," Felicity observed.

"Late night," Thea said with a smile.

Felicity wrinkled her nose.

"Not sure I needed to know that," she said.

Thea poked her.

"That is _not_ what I meant," she said.

Felicity looked skeptical.

"Well, it's not _all_ I meant," Thea amended. "Oliver and I actually had a talk. About Laurel."

"And?' Felicity asked, continuing to shape the piece of wood in her hand.

Thea leaned back against the gate behind them and took a sip of her coffee.

"I think there was some truth to what you said," Thea said. "About Ollie having the world he wants versus the world I want him to have. Truth is, I never really thought about how different it is for him, being the son and heir."

She took another sip of coffee.

"I'm still not…I don't totally buy everything he told me last night," Thea said. "But I recognize that doing the right thing is important to him. He knows that at some point in the future, a lot of people are going to depend on him, be affected by choices he makes and he would be devastated if he ever felt like he failed any of them."

"It's not a bad thing to be responsible," Felicity offered. "To be aware of the obligations that come along with your privilege."

"I know," Thea said. "Ollie's a good man. I love that about him and what our conversation did make me realize is that he needs support; not just from Laurel but from me. And I've…I've been judging him a little. So I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm just…if this all goes the way he wants, then perfect. And if it doesn't, I'll be there to help him pick up the pieces because that's what family does."

"Good call," Felicity said.

"I like to think so," Thea said.

She peered at Felicity's carving in progress.

"How do you make up your mind what to carve?" she asked. "And how come you only carve animals?"

"I let the wood decide," Felicity answered. "And because I like animals."

She set aside the eagle and her knife to reach into her backpack and extract the bear she'd finished.

"Here," she said, handing it to Thea.

"Oh wow," Thea said, studying it carefully. "Smoaky, this is amazing. You're really gifted."

Felicity shook her head.

"I didn't come by this skill naturally," she said. "I had to learn. And practice. I had to practice a lot."

"Who taught you?" Thea asked.

"His name was John," Felicity said.

"Was?" Thea asked.

Felicity gave a jerky nod and Thea's expression softened.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"So am I," Felicity said.

She cleared her throat and nodded towards the bear.

"Will he like it?" she asked.

"Who, Ollie?" Thea asked with a wide smile. "He's going to adore it. And it's going to be way more awesome than anything he gets from anyone else."

She tucked the carving gently into her purse.

"Thank you for doing it," Thea added.

"You're welcome," Felicity said.

"Ollie said something else interesting last night," Thea said, shifting the gears of the conversation. "We were talking about Tommy. I've told you about him, right?"

"Your brother's best friend with the genetic incapacity for being serious," Felicity said.

"Yeah, that's the one," Thea agreed. "He's in Bali now and apparently headed for Prague. I think he was in Tahiti a while ago too."

"Charmed life," Felicity murmured, picking up her coffee.

"See, that's kinda what I said," Thea replied. "Ollie said I shouldn't be fooled by everything I see. He said sometimes the people having the most fun are hiding the most pain."

Felicity nearly choked on the sip of coffee that she'd just taken.

"Smoaky!" Thea exclaimed. "You okay?"

Felicity nodded, coughed a couple of times and cleared her throat. Oliver's words, even recounted second hand, pierced right through her, like an arrow to the chest.

"That's a perceptive observation on his part," Felicity said.

Thea didn't respond. She just gave Felicity a thoughtful look and waited.

"I told you things spiraled after Adam died," Felicity finally said.

Thea nodded.

"I did all the self destructive things that are supposed to make you feel good," Felicity admitted. "I partied a lot and hard. You could call it having fun but really…"

"You were grieving," Thea supplied.

"Falling apart," Felicity said.

"Your parents?" Thea asked.

"They tried," Felicity said.

She knew it was true. Her parents _had_ tried but not in the right ways at the right time. She'd resented it in the beginning and carried a lot of anger towards them. Some days she still did but mostly, she'd resigned herself to the fact that there wasn't really anything else they could have done.

A comfortable silence settled between her and Thea then. They continued drinking their coffee, Felicity continued carving and Thea watched her intently.

"I think I'm going to quit my internship," Thea said suddenly.

Felicity paused in her carving to look over.

"About time," she said.

"I'm supposed to go back to SCU next fall anyway," Thea said. "Start my junior year, declare my major."

She bit her lip.

"I'm thinking about not doing that," she said.

This time Felicity set the knife and the carving down all together and gave Thea her full attention.

"Sounds like some fairly radical changes," she said.

"Extremely radical, actually," Thea said. "But I think it's the right thing. The right thing for me anyway, maybe not the right thing in general, you know? This internship and going to SCU in the first place, none of it is about what _I_ actually want to do with my life. It's more about the acceptable career paths for Thea Queen daughter of Robert and Moira. No one's ever asked me what I want to do."

"What _do_ you want to do?" Felicity asked.

Thea took a deep breath.

"I want a career in fashion," she said.

She blinked and Felicity got the feeling it was the first time Thea had allowed herself to put it out there in words.

"Ever since I was little, I've loved clothes," Thea said. "Even though all those society events were one of the reasons my parents weren't around when I wanted them to be, I still used to love seeing my mother all dressed up and I used to sneak into her closet every chance I got and just marvel at all the prettiness."

Thea leaned forward and Felicity could see something akin to determination lighting the younger girl's eyes.

"Raisa taught me to sew when I was 10," Thea said. "That's about the time I started getting more serious about my sketches, my designs. But I never told anyone, not even Ollie, until Roy found some of my sketches and asked me about them. He thinks I should go for it. What do you think, Smoaky?"

Felicity considered her response.

"I think you're nervous about this because it matters to you and because you haven't fought against your parents' expectations the way you might have to for this," Felicity said honestly. "But I also think if you're not scared to date the man who stole your purse or become friends with a random stranger who lives on the street, then you shouldn't be scared to go after your dreams either."

Thea beamed.

"I think that's the longest and best thing you've ever said to me," she said.

Felicity laughed quietly but the sound was drowned by Thea's cell phone ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and made a face even as she answered it.

"What?" she asked her mother.

There was a moment of silence before Moira spoke.

"It's almost five," Moira said. "Have you forgotten that we're having a family dinner in honor of your brother's birthday?"

"Ollie's birthday isn't until Wednesday," Thea said. "If you hadn't decided to have party that's more about you and Dad and QC than it is about Oliver, we could celebrate with him on his _actual _birthday."

"Thea, what is going on with you?" Moira asked. "You've been so _difficult_ lately."

"I'm not being difficult," Thea said. "I'm being honest. It's different."

Moira sighed.

"The Bowens are going to be joining us," she said. "Can you at least make an attempt to be on time?"

"How is it a family dinner if we're having company?" Thea asked.

Her mother didn't respond so Thea simply hung up.

"Everything okay?" Felicity asked.

Thea shook her head.

"I don't know what it is with me and my mother lately," she said. "I think something's going on with her and she's taking it out on me, not in a bad way necessarily but more of a tightening of the reins type of thing and I am so not here for that."

"Don't think I can be much help," Felicity said. "I'm not good with moms."

"Does that mean you don't want to come with?" Thea said lightly. "I'm sure you'd find Carter Bowen just fascinating."

"Your sarcastic streak is showing," Felicity said.

"I couldn't resist," Thea said,

She started pulling her stuff together but then she paused.

"I was thinking," she began. "I know better than to think you'd let me give you a cell phone."

"Why would you want to do that?" Felicity asked.

"In case of emergency," Thea said simply.

"Thea," Felicity said.

Thea held up her hands.

"I already said I knew you'd say no," Thea said. "But I was wondering if you'd consider, maybe just telling me where you're planning to spend the night, you know? So I could at least have some idea of where you'll be or the last place you were if…"

She let the words trail off and Felicity could see the plea in her eyes. Here it was, Felicity thought, the weight and responsibility that she'd been so wary of before making the decision to try and build this relationship with Thea. She felt it settle over her but it wasn't as heavy as she had expected. It didn't rise up to choke her the way she thought it would.

"There's a cul de sac on Simon street," Felicity said. "Behind the office supply store. That's where I'll be tonight."

"Thank you," Thea said.

She reached into her purse for a piece of paper and a pen. Felicity watched Thea scribble for a few moments, and then hold out the piece of paper for her to take.

"My cell phone, Roy's cell phone, Ollie's cell phone and our house phone," Thea said. "If you have to call the house, ask for Raisa."

She smiled.

"I know you probably won't ever use these but just in case, you know?" she said.

Felicity accepted the paper and slipped it into the side pocket of her backpack.

"Wish me luck with the family dinner," Thea said getting to her feet.

"It won't be that bad," Felicity said.

"Easy for you to say," Thea retorted. "Coffee in the morning?"

"Yeah," Felicity said. "South Danvers and 12th."

"Okay," Thea said. "You be safe."

"I'll do my best," Felicity said.

It was the first time she'd responded to Thea's words with anything that could be construed as a promise and the extra bright smile that Thea gave her before walking away was proof that it didn't go unnoticed.

"See you in the morning, Smoaky," Thea said.

"See you in the morning," Felicity agreed.


End file.
